CULTURE - Israel: An Introduction - page 311

on weekends. Ha'aretz 's circulation was about 50,000 on weekdays and 60,000 on weekends.
In 2006, Ha'aretz said it printed an average of 70,000 copies on weekdays and an average of
94,000 copies on weekends. Israel Hayom publishes approximately 350,000 copies every day;
they are distributed free of charge in major population centers.
As in other countries, newspaper readership is in decline, with exposure — that is, those
reading part of an issue — falling 13 percent for Yediot and Ma'ariv between 2001 and 2009,
according to a Tele-Gal survey. On the other hand, the newest newspaper, Israel Hayom , has
gained about 5 percent of exposure every year.
Yediot is still the most popular paper in Israel; Israel Hayom occupies second place, and
Ma'ariv is in the third place, with Ha'aretz lagging far behind. In 2005, exposure to Yediot both
on weekdays and on weekends was larger than that for all the other newspapers combined.
Today, this is no longer the case, but Yediot and Israel Today account for about 60 percent of
exposure to daily newspapers. Yediot calls itself the “country's newspaper,” and Ma'ariv calls
itself “a newspaper for everybody.” Ha'aretz has done the exact opposite by attempting to ap-
peal mostly to elites; its slogan is “a newspaper for thinking people.” Historically, Ma'ariv was
a conservative newspaper, but Yediot and Ma'ariv are no longer partisan. Ha'aretz is largely on
the political left. It also publishes an English-language edition.
Television
Israel began television broadcasts only in the late 1960s. The founder of the state and fi rst
prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, thought that watching television would corrupt culture
and arts and reduce the reading of books and attendance at theaters, concerts, exhibitions, and
other cultural events. Also, the Israeli economy was weak, and people consumed only basic
commodities. The market could not suffi ciently support commercial television networks, and
the government did not want to spend tax money on television. This attitude changed in 1965,
when for the fi rst time the government authorized privately funded educational television
broadcasts.
Another signifi cant change occurred after the Six-Day War. During the war, Arab television
networks enjoyed a monopoly over pictures from the battles. They mainly broadcast coverage
that was highly distorted and misleading. Consequently, the Israeli government decided to
establish a public television station, Israel Television, which began broadcasting in 1968. Israel
Television and Educational Television shared the same channel, with the former broadcast
in the evenings and the latter in the mornings. In 1994, Israel Television established a second
public channel (Channel 33).
The fi rst commercial channel, Channel 2, began broadcasting in November 1993. A second
commercial channel, Channel 10, began broadcasting in January 2002. With the introduction
of commercial television channels, Israel Television became Channel 1. Only Channels 1 and 2
are based on direct transmission; the others are available only through cable or satellite services.
Multichannel cable television started in 1989, and DBS (Direct Broadcasting Satellite) began in
2000. Both services are operated by private commercial companies, HOT and Yes, respectively.
Until 1989, all the television and radio networks were public. Since then, the government
has adopted a mixed model. It kept the public channels but awarded broadcasting licenses to