GOTCHA

‘Grassroots’ Media Company Admits Kremlin Ties After The Daily Beast Exposé

Redfish presented itself as an independent news organization—but the majority of its staff were longtime employees of the Russian government’s propaganda apparatus.

A new media startup that billed itself as a “radical,” “grassroots” collective has admitted to being a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russian government following an exposé by The Daily Beast. Redfish, launched last fall, initially presented itself as an independent, community-based news organization, producing short video features on topics such as the economic crisis in Venezuela and the push for independence in Catalonia. Its work, however, soon began airing on RT, Moscow’s English-language news network, and a Daily Beast investigation revealed that the majority of its staff were longtime employees of the Russian government’s propaganda apparatus. In a statement following that investigation, Redfish conceded that it is in fact “a subsidiary of Ruptly, RT’s video agency.”

—reported by Charles Davis