The results of the TGI survey, showing that Israel Hayom is once again the leading Israeli newspaper, permits a bit of rejoicing and professional pride. The media market, as we know, is a conservative one, based on reading habits that develop over many years -- habits that allowed a small number of papers to gain total control over the media, in effect determining the agenda of the day and serving as a kind of campfire around which people would gather on Fridays. Those papers' control of the public discourse forced elected officials to conscript themselves to familiar agendas and publishers to get favorable coverage, without which they had no chance of being elected. Over the years, a closed society of journalists came into being. They had ties to prime ministers, knew how to publish stories in the weekend supplement about what decisions the cabinet was going to make before the ministers themselves even showed up for the Sunday cabinet meeting. The protection those newspapers gave to their sources became the base for the rise in corruption in Israel. Immunity in the media also provided immunity against trial and punishment for crimes. The citizens of Israel realized the price they and the country were paying for biased media that was prompted by financial considerations. The people began to distance themselves from the media. Mistrust grew and an opportunity appeared to change old habits. Israel Hayom entered the communications vacuum and changed the media map of Israel. As soon as the paper appeared, it was denigrated. The old media elite wasn't willing to accept the new player on the field that was under its exclusive control. Within a few years, something happened that was unprecedented anywhere in the world: Israel Hayom managed to garner a massive majority of newspaper readers. And lest there be any doubt, the paper's success can't be dismissed by the fact that it is distributed for free. I've been to many public places where I've seen another paper, also free, sitting there for the taking. Stacks of that paper remained high. If Israel Hayom were to print more copies, the gap between it and its competitors in the polls would be much bigger, on weekends, as well. The paper's wide distribution is grounded in the fact that Israelis love their country, are proud of their army, optimistic by nature, believe in justice, and they have respect for the truth, religion and tradition. These are the paper's values, and in return the people love it.
The people love the paper
מערכת היום
מערכת "היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
