Anissa Naouai

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Anissa Naouai
Anissa Naouai.png
Born (1982-08-17) August 17, 1982 (age 39)[1]
New York City, New York, United States
EducationHunter College
Moscow Art Theatre
OccupationJournalist
Notable credit(s)
In the Now
Maffick Media
Children2

Anissa Naouai (born August 17, 1982)[2] is an American journalist and former television presenter. She is the CEO of Maffick Media, a Berlin-based digital media company with Russian links, as of February 2019.[3]

Early life[]

Naouai was born in New York City and is of Tunisian and German-American descent.[4]

In 2000–2001, Naouai studied at Hunter College City University of New York. In 2001, at age 19,[2] she entered the school-studio at Moscow Art Theatre (MAT), graduating in 2005.[5] As a student she starred in performances as Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare), Rose in The Rose Tattoo (Tennessee Williams), and Mom in True West (Sam Shepard).[6]

Career[]

Acting[]

Naouai was a member of the international theater company Studio 6 with the Moscow Art Theater.[7][8] Naouai performed the audiobook The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in English for Russian company ArdisBook.[9]

Documentary filmmaking[]

She produced the documentary film Isklyuchitelism (Exceptionalism in English), which was shown on NTV.[10][11] Zashto?, another work she co-produced, was awarded Best Documentary Film by Cubavision International.[12]

Journalism[]

Russia Today[]

CNN reported that, according to her LinkedIn page, Naouai was a correspondent for RT from 2006, and a long-term friend of its Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.[3] Naouai appeared on the program What's going on? on REN TV, anchored by Simonyan.[13] From 2009, Naouai anchored the program In the Now for RT. The program brand has since expanded into a cross-channel digital platform that offers content via a variety of social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube).

On September 2, 2014, on her program In the Now, the general producer of the Ukraine Today channel Tetiana Pushnova accused RT of lying in her opening remarks before promptly leaving the interview, displaying the message "Russia Today Stop Lie."[citation needed] In an exchange with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Naouai said RT's job was “closing the holes” in mainstream Western channels’ coverage, and said that the Kremlin funded it because Vladimir Putin “wants … Russia to be respected, mutually respected on an equal playing base, and he wants dialogue to prevail.”[14]

In 2017, she told Christian Science Monitor "I don't think I'm working for an adversary, despite some elements in the American media-political establishment trying to position RT as such... In fact, I think my work, and RT overall, helps improve public discourse in the US by completing the picture of current affairs and introducing diverse voices into the debate at large."[15]

Maffick[]

See also: Maffick

Naouai was the Chief Executive Officer of the Berlin-based media production company Maffick GmbH, which acquired In the Now in 2018.[16] Maffick's majority shareholder was Ruptly, a subsidiary of the Russian RT network.[3][17] Maffick Media's Facebook accounts were suspended in 2019 after investigations by CNN and T-online revealed ties to RT and Ruptly. Maffick was defended by RT, which said no official requests to explain the websites were filed with Maffick, and blamed CNN for the controversy, as well as by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.[18] The pages were restored later that month after disclosing their ownership. For example, Soapbox's "About" section now read: "'Soapbox' is a political opinion brand of Maffick, which is owned and operated by Anissa Naouai and Ruptly GmbH, a subsidiary of RT".[19] Naouai then founded Maffick LLC, incorporated in Summer 2019, after moving to Los Angeles and reincorporated its former channels in the new company.[20] The disclosure about Russian state ownership was removed from Maffick's accounts after the new incorporation.[20] In June 2020, Facebook labeled Maffick LLC's accounts "state-controlled" due to their connections to RT.[21] The company sued Facebook in the Northern District of California in July 2020 for defamation and monetary damages from lost internet traffic.[22][23][24] Maffick's case was dismissed after it was ruled that the company had not proven permanent damage and had largely not disputed Facebook's allegations.[25] In July 2020, Twitter also started labelling Maffick content as “state-affiliated”; Naouai said she would contest this.[26]

Awards[]

New York Festivals finalist for Best News Analysis/Commentary for In the Now on RT (2016).[27]

Personal life[]

Naouai is married and has two children.[28]

References[]

  1. ^ "Company register". www.unternehmensregister.de. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Russia 24 (14 January 2013). "Понять Россию: иностранцы о Булгакове, русской душе и свободе". Russia 24. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c O'Sullivan, Donie; Griffin, Drew; Devine, Curt; Shubert, Atika (February 18, 2019). "Russia is backing a viral video company aimed at American millennials". CNN. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  4. ^ "Anissa Naouai on Twitter: "Tunisia". October 18, 2015. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  5. ^ Cosmopolitan (magazine) (18 February 2011). "Экспаты в России". Cosmopolitan Russia. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  6. ^ . "Anissa Naouai". ardisbook.ru. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  7. ^ . "Studio Six Moscow Art Actors: Anissa Naouai". Studio Six. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ J. R. O'Dwyer Company. "Russian TV Host Naouai, CNN's Amanpour 'Duke it Out'". O'Dwyer's. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ^ . "The School for Scandal Audiobook". litres.ru. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ^ . ""Isklyuchitelism". Film Anissa Naue". vesti.ru. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  11. ^ ria.ru. "Зеркальное телевидение: "ХИТ" и другие программные истории". ria.ru. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  12. ^ ria.ru (28 October 2014). "Фильм "Зашто?" российского RT выиграл международный конкурс на Кубе". ria.ru. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  13. ^ Glory Taroschina (19 April 2011). "Верните Невзорова с Доренко!". gazeta.ru. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  14. ^ Lloyd, John (2014-12-29). "Russian, Chinese 'news' coming to a TV near you". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  15. ^ The Christian Science Monitor (2017-01-17). "Inside the belly of Russia's 'propaganda machine': A visit to RT news channel". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  16. ^ Wiebe, Jan-Henrik (18 October 2018). "Russlands heimliche Medienzentrale in Europa". t-online (in German). Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  17. ^ Birnbaum, Emily (February 25, 2019). "Facebook restores previously suspended Russia-linked pages". TheHill. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  18. ^ Villasanta, Arthur (2020-11-15). "Russia's RT Slams Facebook For Suspending Anti-US, Pro-Kremlin Viral Video Channels". International Business Times. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  19. ^ Birnbaum, Emily (2019-02-25). "Facebook restores previously suspended Russia-linked pages". TheHill. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b "Facebook, FARA and Foreign Media". Lawfare. 2020-09-16. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  21. ^ Binder, Matt (2020-07-30). "Facebook sued by news media outlet over 'Russia state-controlled' label". Mashable. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  22. ^ Courtlistener.com (PDF) https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.363393/gov.uscourts.cand.363393.1.0.pdf. Retrieved 2020-11-02. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. ^ "Social Media Company Sues Facebook for 'Russia State-Controlled Media' Label - The Recorder". The Recorder. 2020-07-30. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  24. ^ "Russian-backed sites keep targeting U.S. voters after Facebook actions". NBC News. 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  25. ^ (PDF) https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.363393/gov.uscourts.cand.363393.29.0.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  26. ^ "Tech platforms struggle to label state-controlled media". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  27. ^ New York Festivals World's Best TV & Films 2016 (2016). "Finalist Certificate :: Best News Analysis/Commentary :: Russia". . Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  28. ^ Russia 24. "Understand Russia: foreigners about Bulgakov, the Russian soul and freedom". vesti.ru. Retrieved 15 April 2017.

External links[]

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