NTV is a Russian national television channel founded in 1993 by Vladimir Gusinsky’s Media-Most group together with journalists including Igor Malashenko, Yevgeny Kiselyov, and Oleg Dobrodeyev. In the 1990s it was the country’s leading independent broadcaster, known for critical coverage of the First Chechen War and the satirical puppet show Kukly, which lampooned senior officials including Vladimir Putin.

After Putin took office, Gusinsky was arrested in June 2000 and Media-Most came under heavy pressure over debts to Gazprom. In April 2001 Gazprom-Media took control of NTV and replaced its management; much of the original newsroom left. The takeover became an early case study in the Kremlin’s consolidation of national television. Under state-aligned ownership NTV has since aired documentaries targeting opposition figures and protesters, such as Anatomy of a Protest (2012).

Sources

• Hoffman, David E. The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia. PublicAffairs, 2002.
• Lipman, Maria, and Michael McFaul. “Managed Democracy in Russia: Putin and the Press.” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 6, no. 3 (2001).

Summary entry. A fuller, document-based profile is in preparation.