Russia's gas company buys another newspaper

Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, plans to buy the country's most widely read newspaper, Komsomolskaya pravda. Its media division already owns Russia's biggest private television station, NTV, the daily paper Izvestiya, and numerous other media outlets. Komsomolskaya pravda is currently owned by Prof-Media, a company owned by the oligarch Vladimir Potanin, who sold Izvestiya to Gazprom-Media last year. Critics say the Kremlin is seeking to squeeze media freedoms by bringing major media outlets under the control of state-run companies. (Via Radio Free Europe)