THE OLDEST RUSSIAN ONLINE MEDIA OUTLET NEWSRU.COM WILL BE CLOSED

The activities of the online media outlet Newsru.com, which has been operating for 21 years, will be terminated. The editorial office of the electronic edition reported that economic problems became the reason for the liquidation of the news media. Over the past few years, the portal has lost many large advertisers, who have ceased cooperation for political reasons.

It is known that the Newsru.com media remained almost the only asset of Vladimir Gusinsky in Russia for many years. The former owner of NTV, who ‘lost’ the television company in the early 2000s, and then sold the RTVi television channel (the international version of NTV), continued to control the work of the media in Russia and abroad.

From the statement posted on the main page of the media, it follows that the website itself is not planned to be closed yet.

All publications previously published on the site (1,172,931 pieces of news) are still available for readers. The editorial staff of the Newsru.co.il website in Israel, which has existed since 2005, will continue to work. It is not yet clear whether the InoPressa website, which published the translated publications, will stay operational.

The history of the Newsru.com online media outlet is connected with the work of its first editor Anton Nosik, who died prematurely in 2017. In 2001, in the wake of the conflict between the oligarchs Berezovsky and Gusinsky over NTV, the website with the domain name ntv.ru was distanced and then it started independent work. Subsequently, the domain had to be changed.

The announcement of the closure indicates that the media’s main problems began in 2014, when the political and economic situation in Russia changed dramatically.

First of all, this was reflected in the refusal of large customers to place advertisements, including for fear of being in conflict with the state machine.

The authors of the statement note that they had to make publications about a number of regulations adopted in the country and limiting the possibilities of expression of opinion. A significant part of information sources began to be labeled as foreign agents, and the materials were suspected of extremism. In such a situation, the closure of the online media is a natural response to the prevailing circumstances.