Rethinking Israeli Journalism

What is the role of the media in society? How has the Israeli media performed its role in a society in turmoil? Sagi Elbaz posits that the media has remained faithful to Israel’s core values, and that its coverage over the years has supported those unchanging values.

Rethinking Israeli Journalism reveals wide gaps between the objective realities of issues that touch on core values and how these realities are presented in media discourse. The Israeli media’s coverage of political, military and economic issues has evolved over time, while its attitude towards national core issues remains largely unchanged. Elbaz develops a model asserting the existence of three power groups — political, military and economic elites that use the media to garner public support to maintain the status quo. Based on the author’s Ph.D. dissertation that was awarded for the best dissertation in Political Science in 2013 by the Israeli Political Science Association.