LONDON — Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev will add an online television station focusing on uncovering corruption to his investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta in an effort to take on state broadcasters.
"My dream is actually to one day oust the Russian state-controlled channels from ruling the minds of the Russians and replacing them," Lebedev said Wednesday.
The channel may become operational in October this year, costing between $6 million to $10 million, and will use staff and offices from Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper Lebedev co-owns with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
"The content is sort of like what we're already doing but in a different way, and hopefully having more information and more interesting people and making it a centerpiece of all of this activity," Lebedev said.
The new television station would need to reach more than 15 million people to be competitive with state-controlled channels such as NTV and Channel One, and the operation could be further expanded into an international platform for investigative journalism to help combat corruption, Lebedev said.
