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This week is the 100th anniversary for Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz. Other newspaper titles have passed that century mark, typically in several iterations. Other newspapers have lived in “tough neighborhoods.” Through all of that, Haaretz remains at the heart of secular, liberal Israeli life, now publishing in Hebrew and English in print and online. It is considered a reliable source around the world.
In 1919 Hadashot Haaretz first appeared in Jerusalem. It was published in Hebrew, not available through World War I. There was no electricity, so printing presses were hand-powered. The staff argued over using “Jerusalem Hebrew” or “Russian Hebrew.” The name was shortened after several years. Haaretz published this week a history of those early days. (See here in English)
Haaretz is principally owned by the Schocken family, who acquired the newspaper in 1935. Gershom Schocken was editor in chief from 1939 until 1990. Amos Schocken, the third generation, is the current publisher. Minority shares in Haaretz Group are held by German publisher M. DuMont Schauberg and investor Leonid Nevzlin. Aluf Benn has been editor-in-chief since 2011. Haaretz Group employs about 2,000 and also publishes daily business newspaper and online portal TheMarker.
The State of Israel ranked 88th in the Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) 2019 Global Press Freedom Index, between Hungary and Guinea Bissau. Its neighborhood is far more bleak: Lebanon ranks 101st, Jordon 130th, Palestinian Territories 137th, Egypt 163rd and Syria 174th out of 180 countries. Israel’s RSF Press Freedom Index ranking has shown noticeable improvement in recent years. Five years ago (2014) the country ranked 96th.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of breach of trust for promoting legislation desired by certain media owners in exchange for favorable news coverage. He faces yet another election in September and pre-indictment hearings on the corruption charges have been delayed.
For all the breathlessness about changes in television broadcasting this century German media analysts, taking all this very seriously, are less than enthusiastic. In its Content Report 2018 the umbrella organization for State (Länder) media authorities (Medienanstalten) participating media thinkers, most from academia, conclude that television in the private sector isn’t very interesting and not likely to change. To wit: they are discontinuing the annual report.
The report is confined to main channels of privately owned TV broadcasters RTL Group and ProSiebenSat.1 Media with, lightly, comparisons with public broadcasters ARD and ZDF. “Particularly profound changes in entertainment offerings and a substantial standstill in information services” were noted. “TV fiction has lost its original central role” with the private TV broadcasters. “Instead, a diverse range of reality TV formats is now dominating.” (See more about media in Germany here)
“The scope of information offered by private broadcasters is largely unchanged,” said the report. “Since 1998 no growth rates have been recorded.” Aside from main channels RTL and Sat.1, the secondary channels (Vox, RTL II, ProSieben and Kable Eins) “had hardly any room for (information) broadcast in 2018, like 1998, which could serve… opinion formation on socially relevant problems of our time.”
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