In 1992, with the onset of President Boris Yeltsin's democratic reforms, he joined the weekly Itogi programme on Channel One of Russian TV—first as editor, then as correspondent.

In 1993, along with his colleagues, he joined the newly created NTV, Russia's first independent television channel founded by Vladimir Gusinsky.

In April 2001, in protest at the seizure of NTV by the Russian government, Kara-Murza, along with other NTV journalists (Yevgeny Kiselyov, Viktor Shenderovich, Mikhail Osokin, Svetlana Sorokina), went to TV-6 channel, where he became anchor of the evening news programme Grani ("Angles" or "Points of View").

When TV6 was closed down by the government in January 2002, its journalists contested the competition for the frequency, and won, returning in June 2002 as TVS channel.

In June 2003, TVS, Russia's last independent television channel, was removed from the air by order of the Press Ministry.