Vocativ
File:Vocativ news.png | |
Type of site | News and Information |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Adi Kochavi (Managing Director) Danna Rabin (Chief Operating Officer) Vivian Schiller (Chair, Executive Committee) Gregory Gittrich (Chief Content Officer)[1] Steve Alperin (Chief Business Officer) Scott Cohen (Intern) |
URL | http://www.vocativ.com/ |
Advertising | Not currently |
Launched | 2013 |
Current status | Active |
Vocativ is a news website and digital media company founded by Israeli security executive Mati Kochavi and his New York-based business partner Marty Edelman, a commercial real estate attorney.[3] The site publishes trending worldwide stories and videos.
Vocativ was launched in 2013 and has a team of approximately 80 news editors, writers, and producers from organizations like the The New York Times, CNN, and Reuters. According to the New York Times, the super agent Ari Emanuel has taken a special interest in the company. [4][5] The company uses Deep Web technology, originally developed for corporations and repurposed for news-gathering and journalism.[6] Vocativ claims its proprietary technology mines open databases and public social media posts to develop news content.[7]
Kochavi is an entrepreneur who founded Israeli-based AGT International, a security and surveillance firm which primarily services the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.[7] AGT also owns 3iMind, which Vocativ says was the basis for its technology. The firm is based in Israel and according its website monitors threats, activists, and demonstrators on behalf of governments and multinational corporations.[8] Vocativ was launched in October 2013. In February 2014, Vocativ announced a partnership with the NBCUniversal News Group (NBCUNG) to produce short video segments for MSNBC's struggling daytime program "Ronan Farrow Daily."
Capital New York reported that Vocativ has only 250,000 unique users a month, is struggling to gain audience or traction, and that the capabilities of its proprietary technology are questionable. The operation is reportedly losing more than $20 million a year amid such anemic traffic -- even as most other web journalism upstarts are surging.
To wit, Capital reported on "stormy" feuds between Kochavi and his American employees over the efficacy of the technology and said that these employees, under pressure, often made up that they were using the "Deep Web" to find stories when in fact they were not. In statements to Capital New York, a Vocativ spokesperson strongly rejected these assertions.[9]
According to Forbes and the New York times and the video on the company's about page, Vocativ's origins come from "the intelligence world, as do a number of its employees including senior management which has worked at the telecom company Comverse, which Haaretz and Fox News report has close connections to the Israeli and US National Security and surveillance worlds.[10]
Rolling Stone reports that 3i Mind (cited by the New York Times and Forbes as the origins of Vocativ's technology) "lays out a scenario for a potential law enforcement client that begins: "Perhaps you are tracking an upcoming political rally." It continues: Once you set up the OpenMIND™ system to profile and monitor the rally, it will search the web for the event on web pages, social networking sites, blogs, forums and so forth, looking for information about the nature of the rally (e.g. peaceful, violent, participant demographics), try to identify both online and physical world activist leaders and collect information about them, monitor the event in real-time and alert you on user-defined critical developments.[11] [12]
The Ari Emanuel / Abu Dhabi Connection
The New York Times reported that Ari Emanuel—the co-CEO of talent agency William Morris Endeavor—had taken a personal interest in Vocativ and that his company was negotiating for an equity stake.[13]
Emanuel's unusual attention to Vocativ was motivated by Vocativ's co-founder, Marty Edelman, securing from Abu Dhabi hundreds of millions of dollars for WME to acquire the agency IMG [14]. Edelman serves as a formal adviser to Mubadala, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund. The use of Arab oil money effectively to purchase the services of Hollywood's most powerful agent was noted by Capital New York in a lengthy exploration of Vocativ [15].
Allegations of Repression and Theft Against Mati Kochavi
In December, 2014, the influential Seattle blogger Richard Silverstein, who writes about Israel's national security and intelligence apparatus, published a highly detailed expose [16] on Kochavi's "shady" business dealings. A highlight of his report is that Kochavi's only real client is the United Arab Emirates, even though it does not recognize Israel as a state. His business dealings with a supposedly hostile state are cloaked by his putting his company's official location in Switzerland (also in part to avoid Israeli taxes), and by having his Israeli-based operation, called Logic, operate in secret, having hundreds of employees in Israel but no website.
Silverstein notes the following:
"Intelligence Online noted in 2012 that the $300-million in annual trade between Abu Dhabi and Israel involved almost solely security products including surveillance cameras, electronic fences and sensors to monitor strategic infrastructure and oil fields. It noted that Kohavi and AGT was the major, if not only supplier. "
He went on to note that:
"UAE is 118th in press freedom according to Reporters Without Borders. Some of you will recall the Afghan businessman who was tortured on videotape by a member of the UAE royal family. This is the society whose powerful elite Mati Kohavi props up."
Silverstein also notes that earlier in his career, Kochavi was accused of stealing from other Israeli tech companies, but was never charged. However, no Israeli companies will do business with him.
Criticism of Vocativ's coverage of ISIS and salacious content
In July 2014, the website Pando Daily published a lengthy article ridiculing Vocativ's assertions that it's "Deep Web" technology had identified that the Islamic State was operating in Gaza. The criticism noted what it called a surreal mix of sensational and dubious coverage of ISIS with completely unrelated content emphasizing nudity and sexual situations. Of Vocativ, it noted:[17]
"Its real selling point, from what I can see, is a whole lotta photos and videos of nekkid ladies, always with some kind of nano-millimeter deep justification, like “Four Questions for Nude Artist Milo Moire” and “Naked Ambition: The Queen of Nudist Real Estate".”
Latest Reorganization and "Vocativ Raw"
Just in time for 2015, Vocativ announced yet another reorganization with former Twitter, NBC and NPR executive Vivian Schiller effectively assuming control of the company, even though she is officially just a consultant and does not include Vocativ on her Twitter profile.[1][18] This shift effectively puts New York-based chief operations officer Danna Rabin of Israel in charge of the company, along with Kochavi's daughter, Adi, who manages the Tel Aviv office.
Around the time of this reorganization, Mati Kochavi also unveiled a feature called "Vocativ Raw"[19] which publishes Deep Web reports from Israel-based analysts with limited or no editing by professional journalists. This new form of journalism increasingly diminishes the role of reporters and editors and has lead to several resignations in Vocativ's New York newsroom.
Terminations, Cutbacks and a Steep Drop in Traffic
At the close of February, 2015 (the end of Vocativ's fiscal year), the company terminated about ten key staff, making room for some new senior hires from leading news companies and overall reducing Vocativ's headcount. The terminations were reported by Capital New York.[20] Capital also reported that Vocativ has eliminated its foreign bureaus in a further cost-cutting measure, and that monthly traffic has dropped in recent months to the range of only 250,000 uniques.
Serious Troubles for Kochavi's Core Business
The cutbacks at Vocativ come as Mati Kochavi has imposed far steeper cuts on his core business in Israel, where several hundred employees have lost their jobs. The cutbacks were reported by the Israeli publication, The Marker, which is run by Haaretz.[21] While the article quoted company spokespeople claiming the laid off workers were being replaced by overseas workers (due to a lack of diplomatic relations with a "Gulf State client"—presumably Abu Dhabi), well-informed user comments below the article suggest that Kochavi's most important company, Logic Industries, is effectively going out of business, having lost its only client.
According to the Marker, Vocativ Israel has also been eliminated and the newly hired staffers terminated.
References
- ^ a b Mullin, Benjamin. "Vocativ shuffles executive ranks at the outset of new investment". Poynter. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
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- ^ "Vocativ.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
- ^ "Vocativ Is Like VICE, With a Lot More Data". Mashable. October 28, 2013. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
- ^ "Vocativ Brings Data-Mining Technology to the News Business". Business Week. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
- ^ Bercovici, Jeff (October 31, 2013). "Vocativ Brings The Tools Of The Spy World Into The Newsroom". Forbes. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ^ Kaufman, Leslie (February 23, 2014). "Seeking a Lead on News, Network Turns to Data-Mining Media Group". New York Times.
- ^ a b Ungerleider, Neal. "How Vocativ Mines the Deep Web For Storytelling". Fast Company.
- ^ Knefel, John. "Meet the Private Companies Helping Cops Spy on Protesters". Rolling Stone.
- ^ Bhuiyan, Johana (July 30, 2014). "Showtime for Vocativ". Capital New York.
- ^ The Marker, Haaeretz, Associated Press (June 8, 2013). "What was the Israeli involvement in collecting U.S. communications intel for NSA?". Haaretz.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/meet-the-private-companies-helping-cops-spy-on-protesters-20131024
- ^ http://www.vocativ.com/about/
- ^ Kaufman, Leslie (February 23, 2014). "Seeking a Lead on News, Network Turns to Data-Mining Media Group". New York Times.
- ^ Bloomberg (December 18, 2013). "Mubadala Takes a Slice of Hollywood Action". The National.
- ^ Bhuiyan, Johana (July 30, 2014). "Showtime for Vocativ". Capital New York.
- ^ "Israeli Cyber-Security Merchant Peddles Wares Secretly in United Arab Emirates". Tikun Olam. December 4, 2014. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
- ^ "Vocativ's ridiculous I.S.I.S. story fails to mention the company's deep links to Israeli intelligence". Pando Daily. July 16, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- ^ Griffin, Rebecca. "tweet". Twitter. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
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- ^ Kochavi, Mati. "Raw". Vocativ. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
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- ^ "Digital News Startup Vocativ Cuts Staff". Capital New York. February 26, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
- ^ "Logic Industries Lays Off Israeli Employees". Haaretz. February 9, 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2015.