Life (stylized as L!FE, formerly LifeNews) is a Russian pro-government news website owned by and published by .
Its offices are in Moscow. The brand is most commonly associated with the now-defunct LifeNews channel.
Life News
The television channel LifeNews and its mobile application were launched in September 2013. The broadcasting licensee for the television channel was Media Content LLC, whose beneficiaries were Aram Gabrelyanov and the oil merchant "Surgutex". According to the open statistics of LiveInternet, the daily audience of the LifeNews online informational publication in 2013 was 200-250 thousand viewers.
LifeNews came to prominence by actively covering events in
Donbas in 2014, taking a strong pro-Kremlin position. The channel would see its ratings rise through 2014, to a peak of up to 30 million. On July 1, 2014, LifeNews TV channel broadcast digitally in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol as a part of the third (regional) multiplex. Notable journalists at the channel included
Semen Pegov
Semyon Vladimirovich Pegov (russian: Семён Владимирович Пегов; born 9 September 1985) is a Russian blogger, journalist and propagandist, known for publishing staged or fake videos on social media. He works for the military ...
, who would go on to found the ''War Gonzo'' project.
The nascent channel found itself the centre of a scandal in July 2014, after they reported in a positive tone that the anti-Ukraine 'rebels' in east Ukraine had shot down a Ukrainian military jet. The jet soon turned out to be a civilian passenger jet,
MH17, and LifeNews quickly moved to delete, and erase their initial report, and then produce further reports blaming Ukraine for the fatal shootdown.
The channel continued broadcasting as usual, but after the MH17 scandal, had taken a reputational hit, in Russia, and internationally. In September 2014 Ukraine's National Council of Television banned 15 Kremlin-run channels, including LifeNews, for what they claimed was war propaganda.
On December 17, 2014, LifeNews Editor-in-Chief Anatoly Suleymanov confirmed large-scale redundancies by January 1, 2015, due to restructuring by the News Media holding company. In 2015, News Media cut around 15 to 17 percent of the employees of LifeNews.
In late 2016, LifeNews announced that they were removing journalists from their transmissions, and switching to a 'streaming' format. On August 18, 2017, the channel announced its closure, and stopped broadcasting. According to the strategy of the holding company News Media, they would in future focus on extended streaming on the Internet and social networks, to replace 'outmoded' TV broadcasting. As such, LifeNews is defunct.
Internet publication Life.ru
In 2009 the internet publication of LifeNews.ru was launched.
At the same time the projects LifeSports and LifeShowbiz of the news media holding company were launched, which were both closed in 2016. Life.ru News Media, which controlled the domain of Life.ru, had the following owners: 75% of shares was owned by a closed fund "Media+", which was associated with the "National Media Group" (NMG), businessman
Yuri Kovalchuk, who is close to Russian President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
. 25% was controlled by General Director . In 2018 Gabrelyanov announced his retirement from life.ru; according to Meduza and project publications because of a tense relationship with First Deputy Presidential Administration Alexei Gromov and the NMG management.
In 2016 LifeNews.ru was renamed as life.ru and was planned as Russian equivalent of Buzzfeed.
The new project merged the former LifeNews and Super websites.
On September 17, 2018, Suleymanov and Life.ru editor-in-chief Alexander Potapov left the project, with Nikita Magutin (
Mash) and Raul Smyr (LifeCorr) leaving at the same time. Aram Gabrelyanov returned to News Media as General Director, with Arseniy Hovhannisyan becoming the new Chief Editor of Life.ru, who previously held a similar position at Izvestia.
Radio Life Sound
On July 1, 2013, Aram Gabrelyanov, the owner of Life, became the General Director of the radio station "Russian News Service" (RNS), which had been set up in 2001. On July 4, 2016, as part of the reorganization of the Life brand, RSN was renamed as Life Sound.
On August 14, 2017, the radio station stopped broadcasting.
On August 14, 2017, the radio station stopped broadcasting.
Ownership
Life is owned by general director Aram Gabrelyanov. The Gabrelyanovs operate in different sectors of Russian life from showbusiness to the security services. According to an article in ''
The Moscow Times
''The Moscow Times'' is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates s ...
'' 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.'
Criticism
LifeNews is notable for a servile attitude toward the
Kremlin and a proximity to the Russian security services.
While broadcasting news about events during the
2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
From the end of February 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the succes ...
, LifeNews was derided for falsely claiming to have found the business card of
Dmytro Yarosh
Dmytro Anatoliyovych Yarosh ( uk, Дмитро Анатолійович Я́рош; born 30 September 1971) is a Ukrainian activist, politician, nationalist and military commander who is the main commander of the Right Sector's Ukrainian Vol ...
at the site of a battle in the
Donbass
The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...
. Ukrainians quickly created an internet meme called the ''
Yarosh business card'' ( ua, Визитка Яроша, Vyzytka Yarosha) and called the reporting "propaganda worse than that of Nazi Germany". When the number on the card was called, it reached an unaffiliated elderly woman, casting further doubts on the claims of LifeNews. In September 2014, the National Television Council of Ukraine banned 15 channels operated by the Kremlin for alleged war propaganda, including Life News. In September 2014, YouTube blocked the LifeNews video channel due to third-party complaints about copyright infringements.
In the wake of the
Charlie Hebdo shooting
On 7 January 2015, at about 11:30 a.m. CET local time, two French Muslim terrorists and brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper ''Charlie Hebdo'' in Paris. Armed with ...
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.
These claims were treated as little more than conspiracy theories meant to build pro-Putin support in American media.
According to the
Security Service of Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine ( uk, Служба безпеки України, translit=Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy}) or SBU ( uk, СБУ, link=no) is the law enforcement authority and main intelligence and security agency of the Ukrainian ...
, it is a
paramilitary organization. Andrew Levus, SBU, called members of the LifeNews channel "specific special operations combat units of information".
Disinformation campaign
Famine in Switzerland
During the events of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
and the stop of Russian gas flow to some European countries, the news portal published an artical and a video by the Russian journalist Petrova living in
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...
claiming
Switzerland is preparing for a "winter of hunger". In the video the journalist states that the country could face running out of water and electricity in a couple of days and the suspension of public transport. As evidence she shows the information brochure "Kluger Rat – Notvorrat" by the "Federal Office for National Supply (BWL)" claiming that this was sent to the entire Swiss population.
However the BWL rejects these claims stating that this brochure was printed years before and has nothing to do with the current winter. It also was never sent to the entire Swiss population. After the article was published the journalist published a statement denying the support of any disinformation campaign against Switzerland and that "she was a victim of Russian propaganda herself". She claims a former colleague asked her to make a video about the brochure and she didn't knew that the video was released.
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
** 2014 Big Digit — Business and News Channel category
References
External links
*
{{Television in Russia
24-hour television news channels in Russia
Defunct television channels in Russia
Russian-language television stations
Television channels and stations established in 2013
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2017
Russian news websites
2009 establishments in Russia
2013 establishments in Russia
2017 disestablishments in Russia
Russian brands