Dov Alfon
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Dov Alfon ( he, דב אלפון) (born 1961) is an Israeli journalist and author. He was the chief editor of
Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir is one of Israel's largest book publishing companies. History The company's oldest imprint, Dvir, was founded in Odessa in 1919 by Hayim Nahman Bialik.
, Israel's largest publishing house. From 2008 to 2011, he was editor in chief of ''
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'', a respected Israeli newspaper. He is currently the CEO of Storyvid.io, a non-profit cultural venture aiming to bridge between literature and new media. He was also the editor in chief of Alaxon, a Hebrew digital journal for Science and the Arts. On 16 September 2020, Dov Alfon was appointed editor-in-chief and head of editorial strategy of the French newspaper ''
Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...
''.


Biography

Dov Patrick Alfon was born in
Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...
1961. He grew up in Paris. He published his first short story at the age of nine in the comics weekly Spirou while attending the College Henry IV in the fifth arrondissement. On his 11th birthday, the family
immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
to Israel. They settled in
Ashdod Ashdod ( he, ''ʾašdōḏ''; ar, أسدود or إسدود ''ʾisdūd'' or '' ʾasdūd'' ; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *''ʾašdūd'') is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterran ...
, where he studied at the Rogozin Makif Guimel secondary school. He later wrote about his childhood in a short autobiographical piece, "The Civilization Teacher." He did his military service in the technological intelligence unit of the IDF.


Media career

In 1983, Alfon began writing for "Pi Ha'aton," the student newspaper of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
. Less than a year later, he was invited by
Tom Segev Tom Segev ( he, תום שגב; born March 1, 1945) is an Israeli historian, author and journalist. He is associated with Israel's New Historians, a group challenging many of the country's traditional narratives. Biography Segev was born in Jerus ...
and
Nahum Barnea Nahum Barnea ( he, נחום ברנע) (born October 23, 1944) is an Israeli journalist. Barnea writes for ''Yedioth Ahronoth''. He won the Israel Prize in 2007. Biography Nahum Borstein (later Barnea) was born in Petah Tikva. He served in the ...
to join a new journalistic venture, the political weekly "Koteret Rashit." Alfon joined Haaretz in 1989, where he wrote a weekly column, "Kivun Harouah", about the relations between culture and money. He was appointed editor of the cultural page in 1992, turning it to the daily section "Galleria". He launched several new journalistic formats for Haaretz along the years among them "Captain Internet", a weekly column supposedly written by a fictive grandfather investigating the new medium (1994), "The Marker Magazine", a business monthly (2001) and the re-designed Haaretz Weekend Magazine, where he was editor from 1992 to 1998. Alfon was chief editor of the Kinneret Zmora-Bitan publishing house (2004–2008) and hosted "Nispah Tarbut", a weekly cultural show on Israel's Channel 2 television (2002–2007). He was appointed editor in chief of Haaretz on May 1, 2008, serving in this position until 2011. In 2008, he published a special issue of the newspaper where leading authors replaced the newspaper reporters for a day. The experiment drew extensive coverage worldwide. He was co-editor, with writer
Etgar Keret Etgar Keret ( he, אתגר קרת, born August 20, 1967) is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television. Personal life Keret was born in Ramat Gan, Israel in 1967. He is a third child ...
, of a new international cultural venture aiming to mix literature and cinema in a new format. In April 2013 Alfon became the founding editor of "Alaxon", an online magazine in Hebrew, ending his tenure as its editor in chief in December 2014. His debut thriller novel was published in English as ''A Long Night in Paris'' in 2019. On 16 September 2020, Dov Alfon was appointed editor-in-chief and head of editorial strategy of the French newspaper ''
Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...
''.


Condemnation for defamation

By judgment dated February 10, 2022, the Paris Criminal Court (17th chamber) condemned Dov Alfon, Director of publication of the newspaper ''
Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...
'', for having publicly defamed Professor :fr:Jean-François Toussaint, known to relativize the seriousness of the
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic in France.


Awards and recognition

* Winner of the
CWA International Dagger The CWA International Dagger (formerly known as the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger) is an award given by the Crime Writers' Association for best translated crime novel of the year. The winning author and translator receives an ornamental Dagge ...
Award 2019 * Recipient of the Marianne award 2019 for the best thriller published in France that year. *Recipient of the Peace Through Media Award 2011 from the International Council for Press and Broadcasting, London
International Media awards International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
*Jury chairman
Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society, 2009
(awarded to Haruki Murakami) * Ophir Prize nominee for best TV Cultural show (with editor Irit Dolev), 2005, 2006, 2008 *Gold Medal in the magazine category from the American Illustrators Society (1997, with Israeli artist
Hanoch Piven Hanoch Piven (born August 21, 1963 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is an Israeli mixed media artist best known for his celebrity caricatures. History Piven was born in Uruguay and moved to Israel with his family at the age of eleven. He grew up in Ramat ...
). *Editor of the Year Award, the Israeli Press Association (1994, 1996)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfon, Dov Living people Israeli Jews Israeli newspaper editors 1961 births Tunisian Jews French emigrants to Israel Tunisian emigrants to France Israeli people of Tunisian-Jewish descent People from Ashdod People from Sousse Haaretz people Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Lycée Henri-IV alumni Israeli publishers (people) Israeli columnists Israeli television people Israeli novelists Israeli thriller writers