ABSTRACT
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian society has become more and more market-orientated, and this has provided solid ground for the growth of the business press. Since the beginning of the 1990s, numerous launches have taken place and the sector is still undergoing development. In terms of foreign ownership, business journalism is also at the forefront of globalisation in the Russian media market. The presence of international players is one way of ensuring that the media structure and journalism in Russia develop towards international models. It should, however, be remembered that media structures differ even between countries in Western Europe (Zasurskii et al. 2001, p. 6). It must therefore be considered that no general model can be applied as such. As de Smaele (1999) points out, when discussing Eastern European media systems in general, indigenous Eastern European media models will most likely emerge rather than the Western media model simply replacing the communist model.
