Former Chief Editor of Russian magazine The New Times Raf Shakirov, announced the launch of an online initiative focusing on business-related news called Daily Online, Lenta.ru reported Friday.

Shakirov said the Web outlet will evolve by taking the current financial crisis into consideration.

The Russian media faces difficulty in reporting the crisis, he said, mentioning that nearly 20 percent of citizens had no clue about the crisis, and 57 percent of Russians consider the situation to be better, compared to 53 percent in July 2008.

“For the media, the crisis means that the interest towards business information is sharply growing,” said Shapirov in an interview with Chastniy Korrespondent. “This is precisely why the business-press has more chances of success on the market: readers have to know what is really happening in economics, the currency sphere, the real estate market and so on.”

While politics may be getting less focus in the news, Shapirov points out that outlets that pay less attention to politics will have the same status as specialised publications. He said news outlets might have started to omit political news content so as not to be labelled as leaning towards one political viewpoint or another.

This trend may be the reason offline titles have been losing advertising revenue and audiences to the Internet.

“For readers, it includes free access; for advertisers, it is a cheaper and more effective method to reach target audiences. Therefore, new Web resources, in particular business ones, have the chance of capturing a share in the market,” he said, according to Chastniy Korrespondent.