Israel’s Media Landscape: Democratic Practice, Constrained Environment

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter presents the evolution of Israel’s media landscape since its inception before the establishment of the state (1948) until the third decade of the twenty-first century. After introducing the pre-state origins of Israel’s media map, which affected (and still impacts) its development as an independent country, the chapter is divided into three main sections, each discussing a different era in the progress of Israel’s media landscape. Each phase represents several decades and centers around certain media technologies and platforms: the state-owned media and the unified socialist era (1948–1977), constructed around partisan newspapers, and state-owned public TV channel and radio stations; the segmented and competitive commercial era (1970–2010), built upon private newspapers, commercial TV channels, and radio stations; and the polarized multichannel digital era (2000–to date), based on the introduction of the broadband Internet connection and various digital outlets it supports such as news sites, social media, and smartphone applications. The conclusions of the chapter discuss the factors influencing the freedom of the media in Israel in the digital age, taking into consideration the technological prospects and security constrains within the context of a polarized society.KeywordsCommercial televisionEditors Committee Ha’aretz Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA)Israeli media Ma’ariv Military censorshipNews media: News sites and digital platformsPublic vs. commercial radio The Jerusalem Post Yedioth Ahronoth