The Foreign Language press is another important part of Israel’s media, also known as the immigrant press. It acquired this name based on its important role in the social integration process along with shaping Israel’s image (Capri 72). The immigrant press was important for new immigrants who did not speak Hebrew yet still interested in knowing about national and local events. The press also helped with the socialization of newcomers by teaching the Israeli way of life. While the immigrant press began as a positive tool for newcomers it was soon taken advantage of by political parties. They saw this as an opportunity to spread their propaganda to others, especially new citizens. They turned the innocent immigrant press into a foreign language party organ. However, many immigrants wanted to preserve their cultural values while living in an Israeli society. There are also several Arabic papers in circulation however they often encounter economic problems along with less protection from media laws.
According to Capri, the “ideological press served as a powerful mechanism for subverting, conquering, and representing and maintaining leadership among the public” (67). In other words, papers had a tremendous impact in promoting ideologies. All party papers were and are fully controlled by their respective party leaders and editorial policies and share the common goal of fulfilling their own political party needs. Some party press used media to promote an Israeli identity others used it as a way to keep Israel from unifying (Curran 237).
While the print press in Israel has an extensive and detailed past, the electronic media of Israel has a less intense history. Until the late 1980s there were only two television stations each sharing one channel, and two radio stations. Compared to the slow start of broadcast media in Israel, it is remarkable that within a period of only a few years, the Second Television Channel was inaugurated, a satellite channel was instituted, the whole country was covered by a network of cable television stations and fourteen regional radio stations began operating. It was during this time that the broadcasting media began to accumulate great power. Radio and television are the two mediums contributing to this newfound power (Kamalipour 19). With the establishment of the State, the radio scene began to expand. Kol Yisrael, Israel’s governmentally run network, consists of five broadcast channels. Israel’s radio programming is very diverse in order to serve the assortment of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Television was not introduced until 1965 because it was thought to be culturally corrupting by then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. It began as the Educational TV Channel under government sponsorship however viewers were dissatisfied due to overly critical news coverage and unoriginal programming. The mid 80s was when Israel gave birth to The Second Channel, which turned commercial in 1993 against many Israeli citizens wishes.
Different laws regulate the print media and broadcast media. The 1933 Press Ordinance regulates the print press while the broadcast media is regulated by The 1965 Broadcast Authority Law and the Second Network for Radio and Television Law of 1990 (Kamalipour 19).
The Press Ordinance restricts Israeli newspapers from publishing without a license signed by the Ministry of Interior Affairs. This is in favor of the country because it has the potential to stop a paper that may contain either jeopardizing news or false information. Many military authorities have been responsible for the closing of newspapers based on such problematic content. The Editors’ Council came into play in 1988 and has also been responsible for censorship. The Editors’ Council is in charge of protecting the information discussed in informal military meetings from the media. The other well-known self-regulatory system is known as the Press Council, which oversees the ethical conduct of reporting for journalists in Israel. Despite all these regulation in Israel, with the Palestine-Israel conflict occurring, there are still problems that arise with the Arab press that are absent in the Hebrew press. For example, the Arab press is not part of the Editors’ Council and therefore military information is not well protected from the media. Also there are harsher standards for what is considered “militant” information for Arabs. Unfortunately because of this mistreatment to the Arab press many Arabic newspapers have been forced out of business.
The broadcast media was transformed in 1990 when the Second Network for Television and Radio Law was recognized. A change was made stating that the Second Channel was not only under governmental control and was given to commercial franchises. This commercial nature of television led to new content in Israeli television. Not only was entertainment to be broadcasted on the Second Channel but also 1/7th of instructional television was to be aired. The commercialism that went into the Second Channel is often blamed for alluring Israel with Western lifestyles. The media was once supposed to have a sense of duty to spread Israeli culture that supersedes commercial interest (Kaplan Sommer 178)
It is hard to imagine that any group could have appreciated being given the right to call Israel home more than the Jews did in 1948. Israel was given to the Jews because they had been exiled from many countries and deserved a place of worship. Israel was the country of choice because Jerusalem is where Judaism was born and holds a tremendous amount of significance for Jewish people. Many Israeli citizens strive for the idea of national assimilation. They also pride themselves on establishing an Israeli society and want to integrate new immigrants who come to Israel seeking refuge. They had a dream for a national harmony among all citizens. However, it was obvious that this dream was becoming a dream of the past. At the beginning of the State of Israel media was responsible for acting as an advocate for national integration and to promote an Israeli-Jewish culture. Disappointingly this was not as easy as imagined. They soon came across problems such as new immigrants wanting to preserve their own unique cultures, secular Jews not having as much interest in Jewish culture, and a younger generation enticed by Western ideologies and the American dream. Among these problems was the most threatening of all, the Arabs who wanted to call Palestine their home and would retaliate against the Jews.
Israeli media has had a tremendous role in national development. At first, while many immigrants were settling in Israel during the 50s and 60s, the media was primarily used as a way to teach Hebrew to immigrants. Teaching Hebrew to immigrants is a prime example of how Israel attempted to bring together all citizens. The media was also used to teach traditions and explain the significance of holidays via special broadcasts.
During the first two decades of Israel national radio was in charge of promoting national integration. Radio did in fact succeed in creating a common ground among different ethnic and cultural groups through a variety of ways. For example radio was responsible for many things, including but not limited to, the teaching of the Hebrew language and religious traditions, supplying ethnic broadcasts for those who had not yet mastered the language, bringing citizens into ceremonial events, and reporting the war (Capri 333). Public television also promoted national integration but with one main difference. Television’s form of cultural integration was limited to gathering Israelis to view mostly American programs and redefined the definition of Israeli-ness. While Israel certainly started out as a State intending to be nationally integrated, it has turned into a more separatist society. “Looked at from the perspective of the interaction between one society and its media, it may be that the superimposition of the media and their institutional forms on the parallel social and cultural forces throughout the State’s development accelerated the processes of what at first looked like successful “national integration” and later, in a matter of a few years, burst at the seams” (Curran 322).
Electronic media has sometimes been blamed for unintentionally causing a trend away from a national integration of the Israeli people, especially with the rise of the Second Channel. Radio, which invented a common “Israeli culture” and was used to integrate new immigrants into their language and culture, was being overtaken by the emergence of television in 1968. It has been thought that television “would subvert the effort to renew Hebraic culture, undermine reading, Americanize and secularize” (Curran 314). This was not the case. Television’s interactions with various social groups have contributed to shift away from national identity. Media has played a role in Israel’s evolution from national integration to separatist cultures. (Caspri 312).
As mentioned earlier there are three specific conflicts prevalent in Israel. The Jews and Arabs have existing conflict, the secular and the religious Jews have a difference of opinions, and the new immigrants and the first generation immigrants disagreement in what Israel stands for. While these conflicts may seem independent of one another they are all examples of how the idea of national integration in Israel is diminishing. The Haredi Press, discussed previously, was the daily newspaper for the ultra-orthodox Jews. This press is an example of how religious differences among Israeli Jews lead to problems arising in the media. National integration of Israeli people is being threatened by the media in all forms and although individual conflicts seem to be independent of one another they all stem from differences regarding religion and what is important to a society.
Many Israeli Jews consider the religious-secular split frightening to Israeli society. The alienation between secular and religious Jews in Israel has created panic within the state. It constantly threatens Israel's participation in the peace process with the Palestinians (Arkosh 43). Three daily newspapers, the Hamodia, Yated Neeman, and Hazofe, all have roots in religion and promoted spiritual and religious beliefs. The Haredi press (established for Haredi Jews, also known as ultra-orthodox Jews) does not report on events of the “outside” world such as sex, crime, murder, alcoholism or drug abuse. It reports on life as it should be and not as it truly is. They also have strict censorship rules, are conservative, and entail few if any graphics. It is very abusive on the secular press. In the late 1980s the Haredi press was more extreme than ever and incorporated verbal attacks against elites such as the Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
It is popular opinion that the number one conflict in Israel is amongst Jews and Arabs. Up until 1948 Arabs were happily living in what they call Palestine. After the extinction of over 6 million Jews, known as the holocaust, it was decided it was time to rightfully give Jews back their homeland, Israel. However conflict arose due to the fact that the physical land being given to the Jews was land Arabs also called home. Since the day Jews moved back into Israel and established their independence as a State, they have been fighting off militant attacks from surrounding countries and ethnic groups whose land was “taken” from them. The Arabs, who lost most of their land, retaliated the most. Unfortunately the media is one contributing problem to this ongoing conflict. Positive intervention of the media may be one way to help the conflict. The Jews have held up an endless fight for their right of Israel yet the Arab press continues to verbally attack Jews. For example, the Arab press and TV media in the Palestinian Authority provide hideous stories and cartoons attacking Israel and Jews. Egypt's Al Ahram tells its readers that Jewish doctors inject Arab patients with HIV (Kamalipour 17). This nonsense is also seen in print, radio and TV Media of other Arab countries. In Israel the Jews retaliate by unfairly representing Arabs and Arabic broadcasting in the media. This is possible for them to accomplish because Israel does not have explicit laws defending freedom of speech, freedom of the press or freedom of communication. According to the Israeli Broadcasting Law, the role of the media in Israel is to reinforce the Jewish culture (Rabinowitz 136). It is obvious that these laws ignore Palestinian citizens. While only 2% of journalistic reports deal with issues related to Arabic minorities, they all portray them as a threat to state security thus ignoring other events such as social or cultural actions (Curran 198). Even the wording used in journalistic reports has a contributing effect to the prejudice towards Arabs. When Jews are referred to as citizens and Arabs are referred to as residents an idea is put in the minds of readers as to who Israel really belongs to. Overall, there are five main reasons as to why Arab media cannot exist in Israel. They are as follows: lack of resources, lack of information sources, censorship and discriminatory governmental policies, low levels of professionalism, and conflicting internal policies (Kamalipour 27).
There are two main strategies that are being done in the media to attempt to bring Arabs and Jews together. One is the media from other countries, such as America, are using means of globalization to spread their ideas to Israel and Palestine. One specific example is children’s television. The ever popular program, Sesame Street, has created a program specifically for Israel entitled Sesame Stories. In Sesame Stories Arab puppets and Jewish puppets are friends in attempt to teach the new generation that Arabs and Jews can live happily together on the same streets (Sesamestreet.com). Another media strategy being used is I’lam, the Media Center for Palestinians in Israel, founded by Palestinian journalists and academics. I’lam addresses the communication needs of Arabs in Israel and attempts to improve the media landscape in Israel. I’lam is not as much attempting to bring Arabs and Jews together, yet give Arab media an equal status to Jewish media in Israel. Today I’lam is a well established NGO and is working to influence Israeli media institutions to adopt more professional and unbiased coverage of Arab citizens (About I’lam website).
As decades have passed, the younger generations of these first generation citizens are less understanding and appreciative of the land they call home. They are saturated with other lifestyles, for example, American lifestyles, and are interested in other ways of existing. Globalization has affected Israel in similar ways as it has to other countries in the Middle East. While the older citizens wish not to be coerced with modern Western lifestyles, America has found ways to innovate their media technology to saturate yet another country. To note one example, they have used satellites to set up programming in Israel. They aim their program at the younger generation by enticing them with music, sex, violence, and beautiful boys and girls, only then to slowly gravitate towards “news” (Kamalipour 42). The older generation in Israel is concerned with losing their cultural identity to a Western cultural identity. As true in many countries in the Middle East, the older generation wants a more traditional (religious) society, while the younger generation is enticed by the Western lifestyles they see via mass media and globalization.
Electronic and print media, once used for the sole purpose of promoting Jewish identity and ideology, began to be saturated with many entertainment choices in the 1990s which only led to a reinforcement of separatist cultures. What Israelis worked so hard to get is slowly vanishing. While some feel the loss of national integration has only negative consequences, others believe that the spread of modernity is good for the State of Israel. If is not surprising that those comprising the older generation see the loss of national identity as negative while the youngster encourage the spread of modernity.
Because people were immigrating from all different backgrounds Israeli media had to consider not only class and education but also a much wider cultural diversity, including various degrees of Hebrew knowledge. “It is a country in which the majority of the population consists of 1st 2nd or 3rd generation refugee immigrants who had to rebuild their lives and learn a new language at the same time that they were expected to start appreciating Mozart” (Caspri 278). This can be tied-in with the idea of the immigrant press. Many immigrants of Israel wanted to preserve their cultural values that were brought with them from their countries. Israel wanted social integration and it was by use of the foreign language press that they were able to re-socialize immigrants.
As we have extensively studied in our Global Media Studies class, many cultures and societies have been saturated with media from other countries, specifically the U.S. When Israel was announced as an independent State the government attempted to use the media as a way to unite Jews coming from a variety of different countries. Although they all held their own ethnic and cultural backgrounds Israel saw them as the same; as Jews coming back to their homeland taken from them so long ago. The media propagated this idea of national integration to its citizens and they accepted. However over time both the media and the newer generations have changed. The media has become for commercialized and following capitalistic business practices to keep up with competing media from other countries. Western media has also penetrated Israeli media and providing hegemonic ideals to the younger generations. While the original Israeli citizens appreciate and respect the Israeli culture there are other groups who are more interested in what is going on in other parts of the world. The younger generation along with secular Jews are two prime examples of groups who downplay the importance of national identity. It would be helpful for the media to once again be used as a propaganda tool to promote assimilation.
The history of the Jews has been an everlasting struggle to gain respect from other cultures along with independence. Israel has provided a home and it is important that all Israeli citizens understand how fortunate they are to have this land. They must remember this when the media tempts them with Western lifestyles or television shows. There are many geo-cultures in Israel today and all are affected by globalization in different ways. Hopefully Israel will soon be able to fulfill its original dreams and have all cultures come together as one with no one culture being thought of as subordinate to another.
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