Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The national Israeli drink is undoubtedly coffee, drunk in regular,
hafuch
(similar to cap-
puccino), instant (
nes
), fi ltered (
natul
), and expresso (
botz
) forms. Israelis take their coffee
very seriously and prefer it to be strong. Foreign café chains with their emphasis on fl avored
coffees have not done well in Israel.
MEDIA
The history of Israel's media predates the 1948 establishment of the state. Hebrew newspapers
were an integral part of the Jewish revival in the Land of Israel, beginning in the middle of
the nineteenth century. The fi rst Hebrew newspapers were established in Jerusalem in 1863.
Ha'aretz
(The Land), was founded in 1918 and still exists. The most popular daily today,
Yediot
Aharonot
(Latest News, usually referred to as
Yediot
), was established in 1939. Radio service in
Hebrew started in 1936.
Today, the media world in Israel includes four major general daily newspapers in Hebrew
and one in English; three daily fi nancial newspapers; hundreds of local newspapers and maga-
zines; three national television channels; two popular cable and satellite companies, which
each make many stations available; two public radio networks; fourteen regional radio sta-
tions; four major Internet providers; four mobile phone companies; and thousands of web-
sites and portals. This diversifi ed media world, especially in broadcasting and new media, has
emerged only since the 1990s with technological, economic, and political changes. Until the
early 1990s, there was only one television channel and two public radio networks. The politi-
cal establishment resisted efforts to open up the electronic media market, because it wanted
to exercise some political control and infl uence over the institutions regulating and operating
television and radio broadcasts.
Since the 1990s, Israeli media has undergone a complete transformation. Most of the po-
litical and ideological party newspapers have disappeared, and the single public television
channel has lost a substantial share of its audience to commercial television channels and
those — many international or foreign — available by cable or satellite. New social media have
also stormed the country, and the ratio of Israeli households connected to the Internet, ap-
proximately three-quarters of the population, is one of the highest in the world.
Print Media
Major Israeli newspapers are currently published in four languages: Hebrew, English, Russian,
and Arabic. Four major independent daily Hebrew newspapers appear in Israel today. Three
additional dailies are fi nancial papers. Although over the years many newspapers have closed,
especially party dailies, a new daily newspaper started in 2007, and a new fi nancial newspaper
began publication in 2008.
Ha'aretz
is an elite newspaper.
Yediot
,
Ma'ariv
(Evening), and
Israel
HaYom
(Israel Today) are popular tabloids, except that unlike similar papers around the world,
these devote substantial space to news (including foreign news) and analysis. Traditionally,
Ha'aretz
was a morning newspaper while
Yediot
and
Ma'ariv
were evening newspapers, but
today they all are published and distributed in the early morning hours.
In 1995,
Yediot
published about 350,000 copies on weekdays and about 600,000 copies on
weekends.
Ma'ariv
published about 150,000 copies on weekdays and about 250,000 copies
