Antonia Rados (born 15 June 1953 in Klagenfurt,

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

) is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n television journalist working for RTL Television since 1993. Nowadays a political scientist with a PhD, Rados began her career in 1978 at ORF. Working as a foreign correspondent for Austrian national radio from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, she gained a reputation as a crisis reporter, most notably for her first-hand coverage of the Romanian Revolution of 1989. In 1991, she joined WDR as a special correspondent, and left in 1993 to join RTL Television. Her live coverage from

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

during the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

brought her attention on a national level. Antonia Rados' coverage from Baghdad in 2003 was highly praised in the field of TV reporting, and consequently she won several prizes including the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Media Award for TV journalism. She shifted to ZDF, a public-service TV broadcaster, for a short time in 2008, but returned to RTL within the same year. In March 2011, she interviewed

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

n dictator

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

. The veteran war correspondent and Middle East expert made a name for herself mainly with her dedicated reporting and features from war zones. Rados has also won awards for her documentaries: in 2007, she received the Robert Geisendörfer Award and the German Camera Award for Feuertod, her moving feature about Afghani women who choose to set themselves on fire rather than go on living. In August 2011, she was nominated for an

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

in the "Current Affairs" category for a documentary about pirate activities in Hobyo,

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. Rados lives with her spouse in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Career

* Degree in political science (study in Paris and Salzburg), later PhD in political science * 1978–1980 Freelancer at ORF * 1980–1984 Foreign Affairs Editorial Department at ORF * 1984–1985 Correspondence in Washington, D.C.,

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

for ORF * 1991 Correspondence for WDR * 1995–2008 Correspondence for RTL Television in Kosovo, Africa, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Iraq. Head of the RTL Television department in Paris * 2008 Documentaries abroad as well as Correspondence for ZDF heute-journal * Since January 2009 Head of the Department Foreign Affairs for Mediengruppe RTL

Awards

* 2003:

Hanns-Joachim-Friedrichs-Award The Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award is a German award for excellence in journalism. It was first awarded in 1995. The award is named for the German journalist Hanns Joachim Friedrichs, who died in the year before the awards had established. The w ...

* 2011: Rados received the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Human Rights Award endowed by Alexandra Hildebrandt. The award is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rados, Antonia Austrian journalists Mass media people from Klagenfurt 1953 births Living people RTL Group people ZDF people