Russian new media is getting some new life, thanks to a new project by some of the biggest movers and shakers in the industry today. The founder of the popular online community Lentach, Mark Shein (real name: Valery Markov), and the director of the regional media network Urban Rooms, Anton Gangnus, say they will develop a news platform to distribute the content of regional Russian media on the social network Vkontakte. The project, called Seychas (or “Now”), is expected to have a central office with editors in charge of 2-3 cities each, as well as 2-3 journalists stationed in each of Russia’s regions, all of whom will collectively create and publish news and entertainment pieces on the new platform.
The developers intend to invest $1 million into the project over the course of two years, said Gangnus, who has become the project’s official director. The main costs, he anticipates, will be maintaining the operations of the central office and regional branches, and funding the project’s advertising and marketing team. “In order to reduce additional outside investment, all profits will be reinvested into the project until it becomes fully self-sufficient.”
The network, said Gangnus, is already working with the content of six Russian regions and intends to extend to 12 additional cities within the next six months. Shein has become the project’s editor-in-chief. The chief consultant for the project is Andrey Konyaev, editor-in-chief of scientific journal N+1, former science editor for Lenta.ru, and the force behind the former’s appearance on social media.