How to Silence the Israeli Right
Last month, the American billionaire Sheldon Adelson bought a small, right-wing religious newspaper in Israel, Makor Rishon, for 17 million shekels, about $5 million. Having done that, Mr. Adelson is now not merely an important player in Israel’s right-wing newspaper scene: He is the only major player. This might be good for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Adelson’s favorite politician. But it is bad news for Israel’s public sphere.
Mr. Adelson’s dominance of this segment of Israel’s media market began soon after Mr. Netanyahu’s return to power in 2009. In 2011, Mr. Adelson’s Israel Hayom became the country’s largest-circulation newspaper, with approximately 1.5 million copies, surpassing Yediot Ahronot, which for years had dominated Israel’s market. . .
The attempt by critics of Mr. Netanyahu to legally restrain a newspaper because of its views and its success contradicts sacred principles of freedom of speech. Thus, the proposed legislation against Mr. Adelson and Israel Hayom is shameful and dangerous.
But Mr. Adelson’s takeover of Israel’s conservative journalistic sphere — its bloodstream of ideas — is also deeply problematic. He has taken an ideological camp and turned it into a personal one. . .
But in the real world, the only way to restrain Mr. Adelson’s conquest of Israel’s right-wing media scene and ensure a healthy clash of ideas on the right is to compete with him by establishing other newspapers and finding other rich people to finance them. Surely, Mr. Adelson and Mr. Netanyahu, both vehement champions of a free market, couldn’t oppose such a proposition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/opinion/rosner-how-to-silence-the-israeli-right.html?_r=0
= new reply since forum marked as read
