Lenta and Gazeta to broadcast news content from state-backed Channel One

News websites Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru will broadcast news programmes from state-backed TV network Channel One from August, according to Forbes Russia magazine. Both websites are part of Rambler&Co, a media holding company part-owned by oligarch Alexander Mamut, who also owns the Waterstones chain of bookshops in the UK.

Two other websites, video-on-demand platform Afisha-Series and sports news portal Championat.com, also part of Rambler&Co’s portfolio, will broadcast relevant content from Channel One.

Since the sale of Channel One‘s controlling stake to the Russian state in the early 2000s, the TV network, one of Russia’s most watched channels, has been criticised for its highly opinionated and biased coverage of government affairs.

Many on social media have denounced the recent collaboration as yet another attack on Russia’s independent media landscape. A user on news website Echo of Moscow wrote: “In a split second Gazeta.ru has transformed into a resource of propaganda. I won’t be reading Gazeta again.” Another comment reads: “This really is the end of Lenta.”

Rambler&Co (formerly Afisha-Rambler-SUP), which was acquired by Mamut in 2013, comprises some of Russia’s leading media outlets. In March this year, Mamut unexpectedly fired Galina Timchenko, editor-in-chief of Lenta.ru, replacing her with pro-Kremlin journalist Alexei Goreslavsky.