Now on Carte Blanche.

Chantal Rutter has more than a decade of broadcasting behind her and is one of the most highly respected investigative journalists on the airwaves.

She began her career at SABC after completing a BA degree at the Rand Afrikaans University (University of Johannesburg).  

While completing an Honours degree part-time through UNISA, she took up a position as an Eye Witness News reporter at Radio 702, South Africa's first independent radio station. She rose rapidly through the ranks as a crime reporter, covering stories such as Eugene de Kok, Stanza Bopape and the Khotso House and Cosatu House bombings at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Richmond massacres, and wide-spread township unrest ahead of the country's first democratic elections. She also covered several state visits including those  by President Bill Clinton and Prince Charles. Her investigations into child prostitution on the streets of Hillbrow and domestic violence received recognition from both the Human Rights Commission and the Gender Commission of South Africa. During this time she taught journalism part-time at Allenby Campus in Braamfontein.

After several years at Radio 702, Chantal was approached to join South Africa's first free-to-air start-up television station e-tv as a Senior Reporter. For several years she worked in the field covering a wide range of stories which included the Opening of Parliament and State of the Nation addresses, interviews with Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. She covered the Zimbabwe land invasions ahead of the elections and the Mozambican flood disaster, which claimed the lives of thousands of people.

After many years in the field Chantal was offered a position as News Anchor in 2001, a position she occupied for several years. She remained involved in producing and writing her own bulletins and conducted numerous in studio and live interviews. During this time she completed a Masters degree in Media Ethics from the University of Stellenbosch. The thesis was entitled “Children on e: A qualitative & quantitative Study of Children's rights on the E-TV News Agenda”.

While at e-tv Chantal started up a company, Chantal Rutter Media Communications, which focused on Strategic planning, Crisis Management, Media Management and media training for corporate clients. Her clients included the executive management of BP, SoGo Gourmet Foods, South African Ports Authority, Standard Bank and the Health Department.

In  2006, Chantal shifted focus and took up a prestigious corporate position in Egypt and was based in Cairo for three years. She traveled extensively in  her duties as Director of Communications for one of Egypt's largest private sector companies,  the Cleopatra Group, and in her capacity as Political Coordinator for the Chairman and Head of Egypt's parliamentary economic committee, Mr. Mohamed Abou El Enein.

Chantal coordinated dialogue, strategized and coordinated international conferences between Egypt and the European Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean and the Egypt-EU council. She also coordinated official visits to Malta, China, Palestine and Jordan for Egyptian delegates where she researched and wrote speeches and presentations on diverse topics, including nanotechnology, land mines, cement mining etc. Chantal was also involved in coordinating Ceramica, Cleopatra's marketing and advertising campaigns, internally, online and outdoors. Duties included redesigning logos, building websites and creating an outdoor billboard campaign.

She was also strongly involved in creating and building the first of the group’s three private satellite television stations, El Balad, by sourcing staff, equipment and content. El Balad is one of the Middle East's first fully compliant HD stations.

Chantal returned to South Africa in 2010 and back to her passion for broadcasting journalism, as a   Presenter on South Africa's premier and longest running current affairs program, Carte Blanche, where she and the team have covered stories such as Eugene Terre Blanche's funeral, investigations into missing police dockets and investigations into the Blue Light Brigade.

Chantal is highly respected on the speaker and MC circuit, and has hosted many conferences and events like the Standard & Poor's Annual Fund Awards, Eskom/Topco White Collar Crime Summit, Business Woman Association's Annual Achiever Awards & Political round-table debates and the Safety in the Work Place summit as well as the Proctor and Gamble Oil of Olay Rejuvenation Launch.

Chantal served on the boards of the Public Relations Institute of South Africa (PRISA) and the Western Cape and Southern Media and Gender Institute (SAMGI). She is also a member of the International Association for Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT).

Chantal has always championed the rights of the downtrodden and disadvantaged.  During her time at varsity, she volunteered to teach Maths to adults at Project Literacy in Braamfontein. She’s  passionate about women and children's rights and has been involved in many projects that make a difference. She also qualified as a Post Traumatic Stress counselor and spent several years as a volunteer counselor at Survivors of Crime in Rondebosch.

Born and raised in Johannesburg, Chantal is the eldest of two daughters to a Dutch mother and an Egyptian/British father. She attended Parktown Convent in Parktown, Johannesburg.