Newspapers and Print Media: Israel

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NEWSPAPERS AND PRINT MEDIA: ISRAEL

historical, political and sociological overview of the israeli printed press.

The Israeli press is a combined product of a nation-building ideology, an elitist-colonial concept of the media, and a more recent industrial market-oriented climate. The Zionist ideology has steered the Hebrew press since its emergence in Palestine in 1863. When the State of Israel was established in 1948, the press was vibrantly partisan. Most newspapers belonged to political parties, and only a few were privately owned. They included sixteen dailies—thirteen in Hebrew, one in English, and two in German—serving a population of 650,000. Newspapers owned by political parties include Davar (The Word; labor party MAPAI); ha-Tzofeh (The Seer; national religious party), Kol ha-Am (Communist party), and others. Private newspapers include Haaretz (The Land) and Yediot Aharonot (Last News) in Hebrew, Jerusalem Post (formerly Palestine Post ) in English, Yediot Hadashot (Recent News) in German, and others. Seven years later, when Israel's population reached 1.7 million, the number of dailies had risen to twenty-five: sixteen in Hebrew, two in German, and one each in English, Arabic, French, Yiddish, Hungarian, Romanian, and Polish, all aimed at the Arabic and new immigrant populations.

The Israeli press inherited from the British Mandate an elitist role of social and cultural educator. Also, the colonial rule determined the legal status of the press, for the Press Ordinance of 1933 has remained the major press-licensing instrument in Israel, and the Emergency Measures of 1945 are still the legal basis of military censorship.

After 1948, due to a general decline in ideology and to political and economic processes, particularly since the 1970s, the large number of nationwide dailies published mostly in Tel Aviv and catering to a politically segmented population became a smaller number of wide-circulation newspapers. In 2003 there were twenty dailies in Israel, but only eight in Hebrew. The remaining twelve were English (one); Russian (seven), aimed mostly at new immigrants from the former Soviet Union; Arabic (one), also read in the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority; and Romanian (two) and Polish (one), aimed at Israel's foreign workers. Since the 1960s a dynamic local press published mostly by the leading nationwide press groups has accompanied the decentralization of the population and the emergence of local leaderships. Also a large number of general-interest and specialized magazines are published.

The replacement of ideological zeal and party subsidies with privatization and industrial professionalism has been expressed in a bolder critical and investigative journalism, professional training and hiring policies, and improved ethics. Concentration and cross-ownership, particularly since the 1980s, have allowed a few Israeli and powerful foreign groups and family enterprises to control the press. In 2003 they included four groups—Yediot Aharonot, Maʿariv, Haaretz, and Jerusalem Post—and one financial paper, Globes, and some low-circulation party newspapers, mostly religious.

Newspapers have always been an integral part of the political process in Israel, first as mouthpieces of the political parties to which they belonged, and later as independent critics and challengers on issues such as war and peace, occupation, socioeconomic justice, democracy, and globalization.

British Mandatory emergency measures that stipulated that all publications must be cleared by a military censor remain part of Israeli law. An agreement among the government, the army, and the press has eased this measure: A list of security-related topics issued by the censor defines the press items that must be cleared, and only a fraction of articles fall under it. Newspapers that refuse or are not allowed to join the agreement, including the Arabic press, are subject to full censorship. Foreign correspondents work under strict control, particularly in the occupied territories.

The Press Council, established in 1963 on a voluntary basis, brings together the National Association of Journalists, publishers, editors, and members of the public. The council aims to protect the freedom of the press, free access to information, and professional ethics.