About

As a CNN Correspondent Jill Dougherty reported from more than 50 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, China and North Korea. But her strongest interest and area of expertise is Russia. From the moment she began learning the Russian language at age 13, Russia has been her passion.

From her bachelor’s study in Slavic Languages and Literature at the University of Michigan – and subsequent study at Leningrad State University (Vladimir Putin’s alma mater) – to her graduate studies at Georgetown University where she wrote her thesis on Putin’s Soft Power Diplomacy, she has studied, worked and lived in Russia, in pursuit of understanding what Churchill called “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

Jill joined CNN when it was just beginning three decades ago. In her career at the network she served as Moscow Bureau Chief and Correspondent, White House Correspondent, Managing Editor Asia/Pacific, Foreign Affairs Correspondent and U.S. Affairs Editor.

In January 2014 she was selected as a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. As an expert on Russia she appears frequently on CNN, has been featured in a TedX program, and her articles have appeared in Politico and the Huffington Post, among other publications. She speaks widely on Russia and the media, as well as on breast cancer, a subject close to her heart, as a breast cancer survivor.

In September 2014, Jill will be a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. where she will carry out full-time independent research on Russia.