ISRAEL HAYOM
‘There is less freedom of press in US than in Israel’
by Staff
April 28, 2016

Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and has the most vibrant media in the region, but this did not prevent the U.S.-based Freedom House NGO from downgrading its designation of the Israeli media from “free” to “partly free” in its 2016 Freedom of the Press report. In the report, Israel was ranked 65th worldwide in media freedom, with a score of 32 points on a 0-100 scale (with 0 being most free and 100 being least free). “Israel declined from ‘free’ to ‘partly free’ due to the growing impact of Israel Hayom, whose owner-subsidized business model endangered the stability of other media outlets,” the report said. In response to the report, Likud MK Anat Berko said, “The media in Israel is completely pluralistic and democratic…the media in Israel expresses the harshest criticism of the government, and it does so in a way not done in the U.S., certainly not during times of war. There is less freedom of press in the U.S. than there is in Israel.” READ MORE