SC DECISION. Rappler staff celebrate the Supreme Court decision that grants its petition to stop Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista from restricting coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates in 2016.
Born mid-2011 as Facebook page Move.PH, Rappler launched its website, www.rappler.com in January 2012. It is a response to all the societal problems that each member of the team had long tried to fight.
It started as an idea near the end of 2010. Maria Ressa and Beth Frondoso started trying to imagine how television would change in a participatory age. Then one night over drinks, Maria and Glenda Gloria tried to answer big questions. How will journalism change? How can citizens participate? How can this be used for larger positive goals? How can all that strengthen democracy? They continued their conversations and included Chay Hofileña, Gemma Mendoza, Marites Vitug, Cheche Lazaro, and Rupert Ambil to help imagine a multimedia experience. They tried to imagine the world as it could be, incorporating all the possibilities technology now makes possible.
Maria tapped an old friend: ex-Prober, former media executive, banker and now internet entrepreneur Manny Ayala. They discussed the nuts and bolts of setting up a company, dealing with valuation, tapping the global venture capitalist community. Manny is involved with a company called Hatchd, which was created by internet entrepreneurs to help incubate promising online businesses. Maria presented to Hatchd and brought them into the brainstorming sessions.Maria proposed joining forces with Newsbreak, a decade-old company headed by Glenda and Marites, and merging it with television created for internet and mobile devices – Beth’s expertise. They would form a new company that would go beyond journalism and close the loop on crowdsourcing experiments.
Maria called another old friend: regional media executive Raymund Miranda, who was just about to leave NBC Universal and was setting up a new media company he would call Dolphin Fire. They had avid discussions in Singapore, where both were living in 2011. Raymund brought marketing and sales expertise – management experience which strengthened the team’s global view. They believed the next big idea could come from anywhere around the world so they benchmarked against global standards. Together, the team created a business plan and solidified its vision. Supremacy of editorial independence They formalized their relationships, bringing together 3 groups behind Rappler – Newsbreak, Hatchd, and Dolphin Fire. Initial funding for the start-up with big dreams was brought in by these groups and Maria.Rappler’s shareholders signed an agreement giving full editorial and management control to the journalists, whose collective aim is to create a truly independent news group and crowdsourcing platform free of vested interests.
In May 2015, North Base Media (NBM), an investment company focused on supporting independent media in growth markets, invested in Rappler through Philippine Depositary Receipts or PDRs. A triumvirate of top journalists led by Marcus Brauchli founded NBM. Brauchli, who headed both the newsrooms of The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, pulled in veteran journalists Sasa Vucinic and Stuart Karle. They said that when they first heard of Rappler, the decision to invest in it was not a difficult one to make.

Donors and partner groups for grant-funded projects are clearly indicated in pages featuring the projects. One example of initiatives that brought in grant funding is Agos-eBayanihan, Rappler’s platform for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.
Rappler developed this platform, which is now used by various government agencies for monitoring needs on the ground during emergencies, with initial support from the Australian government. In March 2017, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism featured Rappler as one of 4 international news outlets that are creating truly digitally native content and making money off it. Its innovative business model allowed Rappler to consistently hit positive net income on a monthly basis since July 2016, less than 5 years after the website was born. 2017, however, was proving to be a more challenging year. Recognition and awards
Rappler’s brand of uncompromising journalism has earned recognition from various local and international award-giving bodies. Among the stories that gained recognition was the “Impunity series”, which tackled drug-related killings in the Philippines, as well as our “Propaganda series”, which looked at how the internet and social media were weaponized after the 2016 presidential elections.
Beyond the stories, Rappler’s civic engagement efforts and innovative approaches are shaping the world of journalism in the digital age.
Months after its launch, Rappler and its patented mood meter and mood navigator caught the attention of media trends observer, Niemanlab.Within a year, Rappler became one of the top online news sites in the Philippines surpassing groups that have been around for more than a decade. Stephen Quinn, the former digital development editor of the South China Morning Post, wrote a chapter about Rappler in Asia’s Media Innovators.
Rappler was the only startup media group included in a look on innovation in the Asia-Pacific which was launched and distributed at the APEC CEO Summit in Bali in October 2013.

