Runrunes (English: Rumors)[1] is a news, opinion and analysis website dedicated to Venezuelan topics. The website was founded by Venezuelan investigative journalist Nelson Bocaranda.
 | |
Type of site | News site |
|---|---|
| Available in | Spanish |
| URL | runrun |
| Registration | None |
| Launched | 2010 |
| Current status | Active |
History
Journalist Nelson Bocaranda had a weekday show, "Los Runrunes de Nelson" or "The Rumors of Nelson", which began on Unión Radio in 1998.[2] "Los Runrunes de Nelson" was cancelled in 2009 after the Venezuelan government reportedly said that it would revoke Unión Radio's license if Bocaranda's criticism continued.[1] The following year, Bocaranda and his son created the Runrunes website.[1] The website began as personal columns posted by Bocaranda surrounding the illness of Hugo Chávez, with the coverage being responsible for Bocaranda's increased social media following.[3][4][5]
Demographics
Runrunes' main visitors are from Venezuela, the United States and Spain.[6]
Censorship and attacks
Runrunes has had multiple controversies with the Venezuelan government. Diosdado Cabello, a high-ranking Venezuelan official, intimidated a journalist of the website on his television program, criticizing their work.[7] In January 2016, Bocaranda was detained for nearly 2 hours at Maiquetia International Airport while authorities checked his phone.[8] On 6 May 2016, Bocaranda's Twitter account was hacked with the hacker attempting to discredit the journalist.[9]
Runrunes servers were disrupted from cyberattacks coming from Russia on 28 May 2019.[10]
Access to Runrunes was disrupted by CANTV, the state internet provider on 17 May 2020.[11]
