Life (news agency, Russia)

Life (stylized as L!FE, formerly LifeNews) is a Russian news website and 24-hour television channel that is owned by the News Media holding company.[2] The TV channel was officially launched in September 2013. As of February 2014, it had a potential audience of 30 million subscribers.[3] The channel's editor-in-chief is Anatoly Suleymanov.[4] and it is owned by Ashot Gabrelyanov.

Life
Life logo since 2016
Launched2 September 2013 (2013-09-02)
Closed18 August 2017
Owned byNews Media Holding[1]
Picture format16:9 SDTV, HDTV
CountryRussia
LanguageRussian
HeadquartersMoscow, Russia
Websitelife.ru
Life.ru
Life newsdesk
Type of site
News
Available inRussian
URLlife.ru
Alexa rank59 (Russia 09/2014)
1143 (Global 09/2014)
LaunchedSeptember 2009
Current statusactive

The Gabrelyanovs operate in different sectors of Russian life from showbusiness to the security services. According to an article in The Moscow Times an influence on their recent success has been loyalty to the Kremlin. "The father, Aram Gabrelyanov, refers to President Vladimir Putin as the "father of the nation". One of Putin's oldest friends spent $80 million to become a key shareholder in the Gabrelyanovs' holding company, News Media, providing it with a flood of cash for investment.'[5][6]

In September 2014 Ukraine's National Council of Television banned 15 Kremlin-run channels, including Life News, for what they claimed was war propaganda.[7]

In 2015 News Media cut around 15 to 17 percent of the employees of Lifenews.[8]

Life has been shut down on August 18, 2017.[9] Previously it has been published that the TV channel is about to reduce staff.

Criticism

LifeNews is notable for a servile attitude toward the Kremlin and a proximity to the Russian security services.[5][10]

While broadcasting news about events during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, LifeNews was derided for falsely claiming to have found the business card of Dmytro Yarosh at the site of a battle in the Donbass. Ukrainians quickly created an internet meme called the Yarosh business card and called the reporting "propaganda worse than that of Nazi Germany" [11][12][13] When the number on the card was called, it reached an unaffiliated elderly woman, casting further doubts on the claims of LifeNews.[14]

In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015, it aired a piece from one of its regular contributors and 'expert political analysts' that said the terrorist attack had been carried out by the US against France in order to further an anti-Russian agenda.[15] These claims were treated as little more than conspiracy theories meant to build pro-Putin support in American media [16]

According to the Security Service of Ukraine, it is a paramilitary organization.[17] Andrew Levus, SBU, called members of the LifeNews channel 'specific special operations combat units of information.' [18]

Awards
  • LifeNews television channel
    • 2013 Golden Ray (ru) (Russian national award among non-terrestrial thematic channels broadcast in Russia in Russian only by satellite, cable and Internet operators )— Television Channels: News and Political Journalism category[19]
    • 2014 Big Digit — Business and News Channel category[20]

References
  1. "Rostelecom to enter media business, tried to buy stake in Lifenews". Interfax Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire. 2014-03-04. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06.
    "Lifenews Габрелянова обошел запрет на рекламу для платных телеканалов". RBC. 2014-08-03. Archived from the original on 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
    "За частоты перед Отечеством". Kommersant. 2014-08-04.
    "Correction: Russia's Media Tycoons story". Associated Press. 2013-10-19.
  2. "Эксперты ждут от телеканала LIFENEWS качественного контента" (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 2013-09-02.
  3. ""Ростелеком" заплатит за рекламу на телеканале Lifenews около 200 млн рублей". Forbes. 2014-02-04.
  4. "Названо имя нового главреда канала LifeNews". Lenta.ru. 2013-11-04.
  5. "Kremlin Helps Media Moguls Expand". The Moscow Times. October 21, 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  6. Miller, Christopher (June 16, 2015). "The tabloid king who shapes how Russians sees the world". Mashable. Retrieved 2015-06-16.
  7. uatoday, 20 September 2014
  8. bloombergview 23 January 2015 putins propaganda industry
  9. TV channel Life stops broadcasting, all the employees will be fired
  10. Miller, Christopher (May 2, 2015). "Russia's pro-Putin media darling loves his new life in Brooklyn — minus the hipsters". Mashable. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  11. Ukrainians turn Russian 'evidence' into meme. Al Jazeera. 21 April 2014
  12. Mystery gunfight in east Ukraine sparks blame, counter-blame. Reuters. 20 April 2014
  13. 'Yarosh's business card' sparks new Internet meme. Kyiv Post. 21 April 2014
  14. Визитка Яроша оказалась правдой
  15. Fisher, Max (8 January 2015). "Major Russian TV network says US intelligence carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack". Vox.
  16. "Major Russian TV network says US intelligence carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack". Vox. Retrieved 2017-09-28.
  17. LifeNews are not journalists, but a specific militant formation, SBU. Ukraine 24. 5 July 2014
  18. LifeNews agents acknowledged that they are not really journalists, - SBU. Ukrayinska Pravda. 20 May 2014
  19. "Life News получил "Золотой луч"". Izvestia (in Russian). 2013-11-08.
    "Член жюри конкурса "Золотой луч" назвал телеканал LifeNews самым современным" (in Russian). РСН. 2013-11-08.
    "What the Papers Say, Nov. 11, 2013". The Moscow Times. 2013-11-12. 5. Anna Lyalyakina article headlined "Life News gets 'Golden Ray'" says television channel Life News has won a contest among satellite and internet broadcasters; p 1 (230 words).
  20. "Life News признан лучшим информационно-деловым телеканалом". Izvestia (in Russian). 2014-01-30.
    Премию «Большая цифра» получили «Москва-24» и «Амедиа Премиум» (in Russian). Lenta.ru. 2014-01-30.
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