Toolkit for Contending with the Crisis in the Israeli News Market

For the past two decades, the news market has been in a state of continuing crisis, which is in fact four different but related crises that feed into one another. The first is the economic crisis among the traditional media outlets (print newspapers and broadcast media, i.e., radio and television) and the undermining of their status by the technology giants. The second crisis is that of control and concentration of ownership in the Israeli media market, reflected in connections between organizations within the industry in every link in the chain of production and all of its components.

These connections lead to overlapping interests between media organizations, those covering the news, and those receiving coverage, and

pave the way for them to influence each other. Third is the crisis of trust and professionalism. Financial difficulties in the news organizations have led to budget cuts, reduced the number of media organizations and the caliber of news personnel, and changed the priorities of journalism. The fourth crisis concerns the relationship between politics and the press and is manifested in populist attacks on the media and a debate regarding the loss of public trust in the media.

Given all these processes, the challenge is to create sustainable models of activity for the news industry that will offer newspapers and news organizations long-term stability and protection from corruption both on the part of capitalists and on the part of politicians and other interested
parties.