Type Daily newspaper Owner(s) Yedioth Ahronoth Group Publisher Arnon Mozes | Format Tabloid Founder(s) Gershom Komarov Editor Ron Yaron | |
Yedioth Ahronoth (Hebrew: ידיעות אחרונות, [jedi'ot aχaˈronot]; lit. Latest News) is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in Mandatory Palestine, the Yedioth Ahronoth has been for many years the largest newspaper in Israel by sales and circulation.
Contents
History
Yedioth Ahronoth was established in 1939 by an investor named Gershom Komarov. It was the first evening paper in the British Mandate of Palestine, and attempted to emulate the format of the London Evening Standard. Running into financial difficulties, Komarov sold the paper to Yehuda Mozes, a wealthy land dealer who regarded the paper as an interesting hobby and a long-term financial investment. His sons, Reuben and Noah ran the paper with Noah as the first managing editor.
In 1948, a large group of journalists and staff members led by chief editor Ezriel Carlebach left to form Yedioth Maariv, later known as Maariv. Carlebach was replaced by Herzl Rosenblum. This began an ongoing battle for circulation and prestige between the rival newspapers, which peaked during the 1990s when both papers were discovered to have bugged one another's phones.
As of 2017, the paper is headed by Noah Mozes's son, Arnon Mozes. For many years it was edited by Herzl Rosenblum's son, Moshe Vardi, who was replaced in 2005 by Rafi Ginat. It is published in tabloid format, and according to one author, its marketing strategy emphasizes "drama and human interest over sophisticated analysis." It has been described as "undoubtedly the country's number-one paper." The paper is open to a wide range of political views.
It is owned by the Yedioth Ahronoth Group, which also owns stocks in several Israeli companies, such as "Channel 2", a commercial television channel; "Hot", the Cable TV company; "Yedioth Tikshoret", a group of weekly local newspapers; Vesti, a Russian language newspaper; magazines, such as the weekly TV guide magazine Pnai Plus and weekly women's magazine La'Isha; and other non-media companies. Shilo De-Beer was promoted to editor in April 2007.
In January 2017, secret recordings were released of conversations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mozes discussing a potential deal in which the newspaper would provide better coverage of Netanyahu in exchange for the government limiting the circulation of competitor Israel Hayom.
Circulation
In a TGI survey of the media comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Yedioth Ahronoth retained the title of most widely read newspaper in Israel but saw its market share fall slightly from 35.9 to 33.9 percent. In July 2010, a TGI survey reported that Israel HaYom had overtaken Yedioth Ahronoth as the most read newspaper in terms of exposure with a rate of 35.2% compared to Yedioth's 34.9%. After only a few months of publication of a weekend edition, it scored it 25.7% of exposure compared with Yedioth's 43.7% rate.
Political leaning
Yedioth Ahronoth is generally critical of Benjamin Netanyahu. A study conducted by Moran Rada with the Israeli Democracy Institute showed that Yedioth's coverage of the 2009 Israeli legislative election was biased in favor of Kadima and its leader Tzipi Livni in most editorial decisions and that the paper chooses to play down events that don't help to promote a positive image for her, while on the other hand, touting and inflating events that help promote Livni and her party. Oren Frisco reached a similar conclusion after the 2009 Knesset elections, writing that throughout the campaign, Yediot Ahronoth was biased against Netanyahu.