Award-winning journalist and broadcaster Emily Maitlis was recognised by GQ Magazine as one of the most influential people in Britain. She presents the Gold Award winning daily podcast, The News Agents and the weekly The News Agents USA for Global Media. Having covered elections in the US and UK for the BBC, she also fronted Newsnight, becoming a stalwart of the broadcaster’s news output and a trusted voice with the viewing public. Emily anchored the 2024 Ch4’s General Election live coverage – Britain Decides which was widely acknowledged as the most enjoyable and critically acclaimed. She also anchored Ch4’s US live election coverage from Washington, their first in 32 years.
Emily has Executive Produced the Amazon Prime series ‘A Very Royal Scandal’, starring Ruth Wilson and Michael Sheen. The series is a retelling of Emily’s professional and personal journey as a Newsnight journalist, leading to her acclaimed interview with Prince Andrew in 2019.
Winner of RTS Television Journalism Awards – Network Presenter of the Year 2019, Interview of the year 2020, Network Presenter of the year 2020, Scoop of the Year 2020, British Journalism Awards – Interview of the Year 2020 and Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award 2020. The Spotlight Award, and 2 Golds at the British Podcast Awards for Best News & Current Affairs Podcast.
As part of the London Literature Festival Emily interviewed Yulia Navalnaya in the Royal Festival Hall. They discussed Yulia’s late husband’s book ‘Alexei Navalny: Patriot’, which he wrote whilst in prison and after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020.
She has interviewed Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as each of the last six UK Prime Ministers among numerous other political leaders. In the world of culture and international affairs, she has sat down with subjects including Mark Zuckerberg, Usain Bolt, Sheryl Sandberg, Marine le Pen, and Emma Thompson. In a groundbreaking interview that defined the news and cultural narrative, she spoke exclusively to Prince Andrew, as the royal talked publicly for the first time about his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Emily Co-Executive Produced the documentary, Andrew – The Problem Prince, which examined his decision to be interviewed and the aftermath, aired in two parts on Channel 4 in 2023.
Having departed the BBC and signed with Global, the media and entertainment group, building upon the success of the Americast podcast, The News Agents shot to the top of the podcast charts and recently won a Gold Award at the British Podcast Awards. It has instantly become the go to listen for intelligent analysis, deep diving into the day’s news with expert opinion. It has been joined by The News Agents USA. This year, The News Agent’s continued their winning streak at The British Podcast Awards, once again taking home gold for the Best News & Current Affairs Podcast category as well as winning the Spotlight Award.
Author of the Sunday Times bestseller, ‘Airhead: An Exploration of the Imperfect Art of Making News’ she has written for The Sunday Times and The Spectator as well as The Guardian, The Evening Standard and The New Statesman and inews.
Emily delivered the flagship address of the 2022 Edinburgh TV Festival – The James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture – as the Festival returned to an in-person event at the end of August. The lecture covered the complex world of modern journalism, exploring the threat to reporting the news and holding power to account across the globe, how it comes not just with intimidation and outright censorship, but in more nuanced ways with language and normalizing the extraordinary.
Celebrated for her unique and inimitable style, GQ Magazine said –“Don’t confuse her with Andrew Neil. He grills; she incinerates”.
She lives with her two sons, one husband and an extraordinarily entitled whippet, Moody.