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Ruptly

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Ruptly
Formation4 April 2013;11 years ago(2013-04-04)
HeadquartersLennéstraße 1
Berlin,Germany
Official language
English
Russian
Spanish
Arabic
OwnerRT[1]
Websiteruptly.tv

Ruptly GmbHis a Russianstate-owned[2][3]video news agency specializing in video-on-demand, based inBerlin,Germany. It is asubsidiary[1]of the Russian state-controlled[17]television networkRT.Ruptly owns the media channelRedfishand is the major shareholder of the digital content companyMaffick.[18][19]Its chief executive is Dinara Toktosunova.[20][2]UponRussia's invasion of Ukraine,the company faced a staff exodus.[21]In January 2023, Toktosunova was sanctioned by Ukraine.[22]

History

[edit]

Ruptly joined the German Commercial Register as a Berlin-basedGmbHin July 2012,[23]before officially launching operations on 4 April 2013.[24]It is asubsidiary[1]of the Russianstate-controlled[17]TV networkRT,and operates as a German commercial entity. ANO TV Novosti, an organization that is primarily funded by a Russian government grant, oversees the broadcasts of RT.[25]

In February 2021, it signed a deal with Chinese state-ownedCCTV+to open up access to China news coverage.[26]In May 2021, it won aShorty Awardfor Best Live Event Coverage, for its footage from the impact and aftermath of the2020 Beirut port blast.[27][non-primary source needed]

Ruptly employees, including multiple staff members in senior positions, resigned in response to theRussian invasion of Ukraine,after the Russian government restricted news outlets from describing the military offensive as aninvasion.[2][28]

Notable videos

[edit]

In October 2017, a Ruptly-producedviral videoabout an American restaurant creating a special burger to celebrateVladimir Putin's birthday turned out to be fabricated.[29]Ruptly removed the video from itsYouTubechannel and stated that its employees and not the restaurant were involved in the creation of the video, "which, unfortunately, compromised the reliability of the video. We are grateful to our audience for drawing attention to the discrepancy in our story".[30][31]

On 27 November 2018,Polygraph.infoalleged that Ruptly published a misleadingly edited video of an altercation betweenUkrainianand Russian ships during theKerch Strait incidentin which a Ukrainian tugboat was rammed by a Russian Coast Guard vessel. Polygraph later updated the story to advise that Ruptly had contacted it to say Ruptly "acquired and published without editing" a short version of the ramming video which it had received on 25 November 2018 and that it published the full version, "as soon as" it was able to obtain it. Polygraph confirmed that Ruptly did publish the full version of the video on 26 November but that the full version was published by other Russian media on 25 November. In its update, Polygraph stated that it had "no means to independently confirm that Ruptly.tv did not edit the first, shorter version, of the video".[32]

In April 2019, Ruptly provided exclusive video coverage ofJulian Assangebeing forcibly removed from theEmbassy of Ecuador, London.Ruptly obtained the footage by videoing the embassy using a crew of five working in shifts 24 hours per day for the week leading up to Assange's arrest. Ruptly's twitter video of the arrest achieved 1.7 million views within a day.[10][33]

During 2018 and 2019, Ruptly provided live coverage from France of theyellow vest protests.[34][35][36][37]

In August 2020,The New York Timesreported that a Ruptly video ofBlack Lives Matterprotesters apparently burning a bible inPortland, Oregon,edited in a misleading way, "went viral"after it being shared with an inaccurate caption on social media by far-right personality Ian Miles Cheong and then conservative politicians. TheTimessaid the clip "appear[ed] to be one of the first viralRussian disinformationhits of the2020 presidential campaign”.[38][39][40][41]AnNBCreport in the wake of this incident found that Ruptly edited user-generated protest videos to highlight violence over peaceful protest.[41]

Ruptly's most popular video on social media in 2020 was exclusive footage of the2020 Beirut explosion.The video, which was taken during a wedding, had 4.9 million viewers on YouTube.[42]

Organization

[edit]

Ruptly has a team of 80 journalists from 42 countries at its Berlin newsroom, and has offices in Moscow and Beijing. Along with its full time video journalists, it employs freelance video journalists, orstringers,to capture on-demand content at the scene of events.[43]Ruptly takesuser-generated content(UGC) via social media and its Ruptly Stringer app.[43]

During theeconomic crisis in December 2008,theRussian governmentincluded ANO TV-Novosti on itslist of core organizations of strategic importance of Russia.[44][45][46]Ruptly has stated it was founded by ANO TV-Novosti "to act as an independent, commercially-funded organisation under German law", that its editorial and operational decisions are "completely independent" and the claim it is run by the Russian government is "factually false".[47]

Ruptly's organization also includes the Berlin-based subsidiary Redfish.[18][48]According to theAlliance For Securing Democracyand UK journalistPaul Mason,Redfish is aimed at the political left and African Americans.[49][50]

Until it closed in 2021,[51]Maffick GmbH was also based in Berlin and registered to the same address as Ruptly, according to the Alliance for Securing Democracy, with the same address shared by Redfish.[52]

Maffickhad been founded by ex-RTjournalistAnissa Naouai.In February 2019, Maffick'sFacebookpage began to mention its connection to RT and Ruptly.[53]Maffick denied any connection to Ruptly and in July 2020 filed a lawsuit against Facebook after the website labelled its pages as "Russiastate-controlled media",which Maffick claim is a" false notice ".[54]

Assessment

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Ruptly is one of several Russian media organizations that has been accused by the US government and others of attempting to influence elections through social media.[55]These sources say that Ruptly targets a youngerleft-leaningdemographic through its video promotion on social media.[41]NBChas reported that Ruptly is a platform for sophisticated English-language video and text content that experts say is edited and curated to exacerbate American political tensions, with a particular focus being younger viewers and the political left.[41]

Other sources, such asThe New York TimesandPaul Mason,have accused Ruptly of pandering to far-right extremists.[56][50]

According to a 2014 opinion article by four staff editors for the German news publicationSpiegel Online,"With the help of news services like RT and Ruptly, theKremlinis seeking to reshape the way the world thinks about Russia. And it has been highly successful: Vladimir Putin has won thepropagandawar over Ukraine and the West is divided. "The writers stated that only theBBChad more clips viewed onYouTube.[57]

In 2014, British vloggerGraham Phillipswas banned from Ukraine.[58][59]In 2015,StopFakepublished an article in which it said Phillips had worked for Ruptly among other Russian state platforms to produce Pro-Kremlin propaganda and had links to the RussianFSBintelligence agency.[60]

In 2019, Ruptly was criticised by browser extensionNewsGuard:

Although Ruptly has published straightforward content from around the world, its videos and headlines of topics of interest to the Kremlin have repeatedly featured false or misleading statements from Russian government officials, including denials that Syria was behind chemical weapons attacks of its own citizens. Although the footage accurately quotes Russian authorities, NewsGuard has determined that Ruptly, as a government run outlet publishing the government’s false claims, has repeatedly published false content and does not gather and present information responsibly.

Ruptly responded that "As a video news agency providing content to journalists, our role is to present raw footage that our clients ensure their journalists edit and use responsibly." Ruptly said the claim it was run by the Russian government was "factually false": "Ruptly was founded by ANO TV Novosti to act as an independent, commercially-funded organisation under German law, and sister agency to RT. It has commercial relations with all its clients including RT." It noted that videos on its platform contain criticism of the Kremlin, including anti-Putin demonstrations in Russia and around the world, protests outside the Russian embassy in Berlin and global demonstrations in support of opposition activist leaderAlexei Navalny.[47]

Statistics fromTubular Labsshow Ruptly was the most-watched news agency on YouTube in 2020, toppingYonhap,Associated Press,Reuters,XinhuaandAFP.[42]

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Organization Year Category/award Project/service Result Ref.
Webby Awards 2020 Best Data Visualisation Dyatlov Group's Journal Honoree [61]
AIB Awards 2020 News Agency of the Year Shortlisted

[62][better source needed]

White Square Awards[1] 2020 Interactive Brand Content Dyatlov Group's Journal Gold [63]
Shorty Awards 2020 Best Multiplatform Campaign Dyatlov Group's Journal Won [64]
Shorty Awards 2020 Best Use of Storytelling Dyatlov Group's Journal Won [65]
Shorty Awards 2019 Best Live News Coverage Yellow Vests live streams Won [66]
DigidayAwards Europe 2019 Best Use of Live Ruptly Live Won [67]
DigidayAwards Europe 2019 Video Team of the Year Finalist [68]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^abc[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
  2. ^abcEscritt, Thomas (28 February 2022)."Exclusive: Russian news agency in Berlin faces staff exodus over Ukraine invasion".Reuters.Retrieved2 March2022.
  3. ^Mackey, Robert (27 April 2018)."Russia Brings Syrians to The Hague to Make Underwhelming Case Chemical Attack Was Fake".The Intercept.Retrieved2 March2022.
  4. ^Sloss, David L. (12 April 2022).Tyrants on Twitter: Protecting Democracies from Information Warfare.Stanford University Press.ISBN978-1-5036-3115-1.Retrieved3 March2022– viaGoogle Books.Ruptly, a subsidiary of RT that specializes in video, has 230,000 likes on Facebook, 52,000 Twitter followers, and 304,000 YouTube subscribers in the UK.
  5. ^Chobanyan, Karina (2020). Vartanova, Elena; Gladkova, Anna (eds.)."Up for a challenge? Digital practices of 24-hour news channels"(PDF).World of Media(3).Moscow State University:50.ISSN2686-8016.Retrieved3 March2022.RT, which owns Ruptly news agency, likes to post its raw footage of world events.
  6. ^Cohen, Howard (May 2018)."Tech Tock...: Time is Running Out to Find Solutions to Mis- and Disinformation and Privacy Problems".Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.Harvard University:Harvard Kennedy School:17–18.Retrieved3 March2022.Ruptly is a news agency created by Russian funded news channel RT in 2013 to rival Reuters and AP. [...] Finally, it is very transparent about following the same agenda as RT: "Ruptly builds on and extends the core strengths and values of our parent company RT."
  7. ^"Russia Uses State Television to Sway Opinion at Home and Abroad".Der Spiegel.30 May 2014.Retrieved22 March2021.Moscow is looking beyond the short-term, seeking to influence opinion in the long-run to create "an alternative discourse in Western countries as well," says Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of Kremlin foreign broadcaster RT, formerly known as Russia Today, which owns Ruptly.
  8. ^"В Минске задержаны двое стрингеров видеоагентства Ruptly"[Two stringers of video agency Ruptly detained in Minsk].Interfax(in Russian). 9 August 2020.Retrieved22 March2021.Двух стрингеров видеоагентства Ruptly задержали в Минске, сообщил владелец сервиса, телеканал RT.[Two stringers of the Ruptly video agency were detained in Minsk, the owner of the service, RT TV channel, said.]
  9. ^Zara, Christopher(11 April 2019)."What is Ruptly? Julian Assange arrest video footage raises eyebrows about RT-owned outlet".Fast Company.Retrieved23 July2021.
  10. ^ab"RT's video agency Ruptly beats UK media to Julian Assange footage".Press Gazette.11 April 2019.Retrieved21 October2020.
  11. ^Aro, Jessikka(6 March 2021)."Emilia Seikkanen Worked in a Trendy Video Start-Up in Berlin – Tells All about the Kremlin's Global Information Operation".Yle.Retrieved2 March2022.The company left out the essential information in its job vacancy advertisements: Ruptly is the subsidiary of the Russian state-funded media company RT, formerly Russia Today. It's located in the same office as RT's German media branch, named RT Deutsch.
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  15. ^Hellman, Maria; Wagnsson, Charlotte (3 April 2017)."How can European states respond to Russian information warfare? An analytical framework"(PDF).European Security.26(2).Taylor & Francis:153–170.doi:10.1080/09662839.2017.1294162.S2CID157635419.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 23 April 2021.Retrieved20 March2021– viaCharles University.Use of state-controlled media such as RT (previously known as Russia Today) to spread the Russian narrative or contest the opponent's narrative is an important part of Russian information warfare.
  16. ^Al-Rawi, Ahmed (12 February 2021). "How did Russian and Iranian trolls' disinformation toward Canadian issues diverge and converge?".Digital War.2(1–3).Palgrave Macmillan:21–34.doi:10.1057/s42984-020-00029-4.ISSN2662-1983.S2CID258704949.One of the major tools highlighted by the author is Russia Today, the state-controlled international television network that is often cited by Russian trolls in their dissemination of Pro-Kremlin messages.
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  21. ^Escritt, Thomas (28 February 2022)."Exclusive: Russian news agency in Berlin faces staff exodus over Ukraine invasion".Reuters.
  22. ^opensanctionshttps://www.opensanctions.org/entities/NK-9UYTAsgNAmGt8CRFBTMBf2
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  25. ^"Production Company Registers Under the Foreign Agent Registration Act as Agent for the Russian Government Entity Responsible for Broadcasting RT".www.justice.gov.13 November 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 1 November 2020.Retrieved2 November2020.
  26. ^"Ruptly inks deal with CCTV+ to boost business news coverage of China".www.filmfestivals.com.27 February 2021.Retrieved23 July2021.
  27. ^"Ruptly: The Beirut Blast Live – The Shorty Awards".shortyawards.com.Archived fromthe originalon 27 July 2021.Retrieved23 July2021.
  28. ^Brodkin, Jon (1 March 2022)."YouTube blocks RT and Sputnik as Russia tells media not to say" invasion "".Ars Technica.Retrieved2 March2022.
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  34. ^Broderick, Ryan (10 December 2018)."As The Yellow Vests Torched Cars In Paris, Millions Watched At Home On Facebook Live".BuzzFeed News.Archivedfrom the original on 28 January 2021.Retrieved1 February2021.By focusing almost entirely on police violence against protesters, RT and its social video counterpart Ruptly are dominating Yellow Vests Facebook groups right now.
  35. ^Bloomberg (10 December 2018)."France Investigates Possible Russian Influence on Yellow Vest Riots".The Moscow Times.Archivedfrom the original on 18 January 2021.Retrieved1 February2021.Much of the tweeted material comes from Russian state media outlets including the Sputnik news website, the RT television network, and Ruptly, a German-based video news agency that belongs to RT. These outlets are covering the French crisis closely; RT has said that 12 of its journalists have been injured in the protests, far more than any other news organization.
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  58. ^Smith, Sonia (21 March 2018)."War of Words: Meet the Texan Trolling for Putin".Texas Monthly.Retrieved2 March2022.[Russell] Bentley [a vlogger originally hosted by Ruptly]... is a new kind of soldier in the information war, a freelancer who has garnered a loyal following precisely because he claims to be independent from state or corporate control. In truth, of course, he often echoes the talking points spun out by Russian news sources. And in that respect, he is part of an emerging crop of self-styled information warriors loyal to authoritarian regimes. "There are more of these actors cropping up in conflict zones around the world," said Tanya Lokot, an assistant professor at Dublin City University's School of Communications who studies how digital media has been used on both sides of the Ukrainian conflict. These actors include... Graham Phillips, a YouTube vlogger who moved to Donetsk after a stint in Kiev. Though their reach may be limited compared with the likes of Russian state media, the conspiracy theories they promote tend to ricochet around the web, making the leap from alternative media websites to Russian television, and after gaining traction on social media, burbling up to the mainstream. As a result, parsing the truth has become more elusive than ever.
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Further reading

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