''Israel Hayom'' () is an Israeli

Hebrew-language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...

free daily newspaper Free newspapers are distributed free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. They are published at ...

. Distributed for free around Israel, it is the country's most widely distributed newspaper. Owned by the family of the

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Sheldon Adelson Sheldon Gary Adelson (August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, and political donor. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which founded the Marina Bay Sa ...

, the casino mogul and political donor, ''Israel Hayom'' has been noted for its editorial stance and coverage of Israeli politics, often sparking debate about its political alignment.

History

''Israel Hayom''s print edition, "financed by the American casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson," was launched on 30 July 2007, competing directly with '' Israeli'', another free daily. That same year, ''

Maariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'', or ''Arbit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or at night. It consists primarily of the evening '' Shema'' and ''Amidah''. The service will often begin with two ...

'' editor

Dan Margalit Dan Margalit may refer to: * Dan Margalit (journalist) (born 1938), Israeli journalist, author and television host * Dan Margalit (mathematician) (born 1976), American mathematician {{hndis, Margalit, Dan ...

left the newspaper to write for ''Israel Hayom''. A weekend edition was launched in October 2009. In 2014, ''Israel Hayom'' bought Israeli media outlets ''

Makor Rishon ''Makor Rishon'' ( lit. "Firsthand Source") is a semi-major Israeli newspaper associated with Religious Zionism and the educated liberal-conservative right-wing. History ''Makor Rishon'' was founded as a weekly magazine in July 1997 in order ...

'' and '' nrg מעריב''. In May 2014 the name מעריב (Maariv) was removed from nrg log, and it was rebranded as nrg. Following the acquisition, an antitrust complaint was filed against ''Israel Hayom'', which resulted in a court order that requested the transfer of the maariv

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to ''Maariv'' weekly. In 2017, nrg was renamed to nrg360, and on 10 January 2018 the website closed; all of its content was merged into the

website. Later that year, it is believed, was when

invested at least $50 million in ''Israel Hayom''. Critics of Adelson's involvement claimed that the distribution of free newspapers hurt free enterprise and targeted Israel's print newspaper industry, as ''Israel Hayom'' was then Israel's only free-of-charge national newspaper. The bill passed the first reading in the Knesset, but not subsequent ones. In 2016, Adelson's attorney announced that although it was commonly believed that Adelson owned the newspaper, it was owned by a relative of his. In January 2021, Saudi-American independent academic researcher, Najat Al-Saied, became the first person from the

Arab states of the Persian Gulf The Arab states of the Persian Gulf, also known as the Gulf Arab states (), refers to a group of Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi ...

to join ''Israel Hayom''.

Political leaning

''Israel Hayom'' has been described as having a

center-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

political alignment since its establishment in 2007. From its inception, the paper has reflected conservative and national-liberal ideologies, focusing on national security and economic policy. Early analyses suggested that ''Israel Hayom'' frequently aligned with conservative values, advocating for a robust national defense and

skepticism Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

toward diplomatic concessions, especially during major political events, such as national

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

. By 2016, ''Israel Hayom'' extended its influence beyond Israel, endorsing the presidential campaign of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, marking a notable alignment with conservative movements on a global scale. This endorsement reinforced the perception of the paper as a supporter of right-wing ideologies not only in Israel but also internationally.

Market share

Being distributed for free, ''Israel Hayom'' has an advantage over other daily newspapers in Israel. In July 2010, ''Israel Hayom'' surpassed ''

Yedioth Ahronoth (, ; lit. "Latest News") is an Israeli daily mass market newspaper published in Tel Aviv. Founded in 1939, is Israel's largest paid newspaper by sales and circulation and has been described as "undoubtedly the country's number-one paper."

'' in weekday exposure rate in the semi-annual

Target Group Index Kantar Group Ltd. is an international market research company based in London, England. It was founded in 1992, and has approximately 30,000 employees across over 90 countries working in various research disciplines, including brand guidance, br ...

(TGI) survey. As of January 1, 2024, a TGI survey indicated that ''Israel Hayom'', distributed for free, is Israel's most read newspaper, with a 27.4% weekday readership exposure, followed by ''

'', with 22.4%, ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' with 5.4%, ''

'' with 3.5%'', and

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'' with 3.2%. As of July 31, 2023, a TGI survey had indicated that ''Israel Hayom'', was Israel's most read newspaper, with a 29.4% weekday readership exposure, followed by ''

'', with 22.3%, ''

'' with 4.8%, ''

'' with 4% and ''

'' with 3.9%. In January 2016, citing internal records from ''Israel Hayom'', ''Haaretz'' revealed that between 2007 and 2014, the newspaper lost about 730 million shekels ($190 million), approximately equal to a shekel per copy printed.

Employees

;Senior management * Miriam Adelson – Publisher * Omer Lachmanovitch – editor-in-chief * Amir Finkelstein – CEO * Uri Dagon – news director * Nir Vitlem – chief technology officer * Moriya Idan – chief financial officer ;Staff * Shlomo Cohen – editorial cartoonist * Gideon Alon – parliamentary correspondent * Ran Reznick – health correspondent *

– senior commentator * Naama Lanski – magazine correspondent * Eli Sahar – sports editor * Shir Ziv – television critic * Shlomo Cesana – diplomatic correspondent * Aviad Hacohen – legal affairs commentator * Ronen Dorfan – sports commentator *

Yoav Kutner Yoav Kutner (; born 18 May 1954) is an Israeli music editing, editor, TV and radio presenter, who has significantly promoted performers ranging from Mashina to Radiohead. Life Yoav Kutner was born in Jerusalem, Israel. Kutner lives and works in ...

– music critic * Lilach Shoval – military correspondent * Mati Tuchfeld – political correspondent *

Shlomo Scharf Shlomo Scharf (; born 1 January 1943) is an Israeli former football coach and player who works as a commentator on Israeli Sport 5 TV channel. Scharf managed Maccabi Haifa to three championships, and was Israel national team manager from 19 ...

– sports commentator

References

External links