The New Yorker just did a piece on Ha'aretz, the far-left Israeli newspaper. It describes the way Ha'aretz reporters have lived in Ramallah and Gaza for years, to get to know the locals and try to write about life on their side of the wall a little bit. Ha'aretz has become well-known for their far left approach to Israeli politics, and to Palestinian relations in particular.
At the same time, though, Israeli society at large is said to be moving to the right, putting Ha'aretz in a strange position. Their readership is shrinking, but even people who don't read the newspaper themselves see it as having an important place in society. That voice of dissent, the newspaper with the really out-there opinions that few people agree with, is an important voice--and one that can't be provided by a mainstream news outlet. Think of it as the polar opposite of Fox News (except Fox is of course pretty mainstream in that it's hugely popular.)
Who is our Ha'aretz? Do we have any media and reporters that are willing to go through what the Ha'aretz staff goes through (ostracization, mockery, a pipe bomb attempt) to bring to light unpopular opinions so they too are included in the public dialogue? I somehow don't think so.
Fascinating. I was particularly intrigued by the way Haaretz covered the second Intifada - deciding on purpose to show little sympathy to the Israeli side and instead continuing to be a sympathetic voice to the Palestinians. I can't imagine the New York Times or any other major American paper deciding in the wake of 9/11 to downplay the American loss of life and sympathize with Al-Qaeda.
ReplyDeleteI think that our American Media is way too "conglomerated" to be able to do what Ha'aretz does, it just doesn't bring in the profit.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the fear of being unpatriotic is not as prevalent or threatening in Israeli society as it seems to be here in the US. Having a multi-party system of government might also contribute to this, since the range of political ideologies in the government itself is much broader.
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