Political Communication and Israeli Politics

Abstract

This chapter presents a critical discussion of the symbiosis between media and politics in Israel. Theoretically, the Israeli media operate in a pluralistic, democratic, and advanced sociopolitical climate, but in fact most of the media suffer from fragmentation, economic instability, and heavy political pressures. These elements are reflected, for example, in homogeneous news supply, massive cross-ownership, and recently by increasing governmental intervention. These elements have rapidly invaded social and online media as well. The first section of this chapter offers an overview of the structural, political, and economic characteristics of the Israeli news media. The second part outlines characteristics of the Israeli media coverage of political news, election campaigns, and political satire, such as framing, mediatization, negativity, personalization, and political bias.

The Strategic Bias: How Journalists Respond to Antimedia Populism

“…To put things in context, even before Netanyahu's attacks on the Israeli media, Right-wing politicians and pressure groups have used the recurring military conflicts to denounce Israeli journalists as “antipatriotic lefties” (Caspi 1981), although research refutes that Israel's news was biased to the Left or in favor of the Palestinians. In fact, “the Israeli media has been repeatedly shown to be ‘patriotic’ by constructing news frames that reflect and reinforce the belief that Israel is virtuous and victimized” (Markowitz-Elfassi et al 2018), with military conflicts drawing it even closer to Israel's official policy. This background has created a handy framework for Netanyahu to mark journalists as “enemies of the people,” equating them to Hezbollah leaders and Hamas terrorists.…”

“…From the 1990s onward, Israeli journalism moved closer to the liberal model of media systems due to processes of privatization and professionalization, although state censorship around national security issues kept restraining press freedom (Peri 2011). Currently, the Israeli news media suffers from economic instability and heavy political pressures, manifested in massive cross-ownership and hyperconcentration, reemergence of partisan media, and intensifying clientelist ties between media owners and political actors (Markowitz-Elfassi et al 2018). These conditions nurture an unaccommodating environment for journalism to carry out its democratic aspirations to inform citizens, enable public deliberation, and hold those in power accountable.…”

“…Like their counterparts abroad, it is likely that Israeli journalists have been more liberal than the average population. It would be difficult, however, to argue that their liberal tendency translated into evident left-leaning reporting: empirical studies have concluded that the news in Israel was not slanted to the Left (Markowitz-Elfassi et al 2018; Sheafer and Weimann 2005). Certain scholars note that Netanyahu himself has always been unpopular among journalists (Peri 2004).…”

“…Studying the consequences of his antimedia campaign may offer an insight into potential futures of journalism in Israel and elsewhere. Second, alongside exceptional challenges stemming from Israel's geopolitical position, the Israeli media shares various characteristics with many other news industries around the world, from ownership structures to professional norms (Markowitz-Elfassi et al 2018; Tsfati and Meyers 2012), making the Israeli case a relevant reference point. Third, while prevalent, Israeli populism is understudied; further research could enrich the literature on global populism while also helping de-westernize media studies.…”

Political Para-Social Relationship as a Predictor of Voting Preferences in the Israeli 2019 Elections

“…Multi-party contexts are considered more ideological and less personal by political scientists (Lo et al, 2016). The fact that PPSR emerged as a strong predictor of voting in Israel, considered in the literature an extreme multi-party system (Markowitz-Elfassi et al, 2018), presents an important extension of the Cohen and Holbert’s (2018) study that uncovered the effects of PPSR in the more heavily personalized American context (McAllister, 2007). In other words, the current study demonstrates that the intensity of the para-social relationship voters form with candidates is important not only in contexts in which voters directly vote for candidates, it also matters when voters select between various ideological parties and have many options on the ballot.…”