Hadashot

Hadashot was established as a popular Hebrew daily intended to challenge Israel's dominant evening newspapers, Yedioth Aharonoth and Maariv. Its first issue appeared in March 1984, and it continued publishing until November 1993.[1][2]

The newspaper combined short, accessible reporting with large photographs, full-color printing, conspicuous headlines, and an informal writing style. These features distinguished it from more conservative Israeli newspapers and helped establish its reputation as the country's first tabloid.[3][2]

Hadashot was founded by Amos Schocken, who had been appointed managing director of the Haaretz chain by his father, Gershom Schocken.[8] Its business purpose was to give the Schocken newspaper network a vehicle for winning readers from the established evening papers, Yedioth Aharonoth and Maariv.[8][1] One retrospective reports that some observers also attributed Schocken's motivation to a desire to prove himself to his father.[1]

Preparations began in the summer of 1983, when a group led by editor Yossi Klein conducted trial runs at the Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv. The founding team included Danny Dor, Rino Tzror, Alon Shalev, and graphic designer Shimon "Jogol" Zandhaus. The project proceeded without formal market research or a clearly defined reader profile, and the first issue appeared in March 1984.[2]

The launch was turbulent: printing-press workers protested the breaking of collective agreements, and helicopters distributed copies from the rooftop to circumvent the dispute.[9] Guy Bechor, later identified as one of the paper's founders, headed its Middle East desk from 1984 to 1991.[10]

Hadashot appeared when Israel was still largely conservative and has been described as the country's first tabloid newspaper. It introduced risqué material and full-color photographs, disrupting both the newspaper industry and Israeli society.[3] Photographer Alex Levac joined the paper and contributed a regular column to its supplement Segol ("purple"), recalling that its visually oriented editors gave photographers considerable column space.[3]

The paper's visual language drew on newly available production technology, including advanced digital photo-setting and rotary offset printing that enabled full-color output. Large photographs, expressive typography, and prominent headlines formed the core of its design, while photography was deployed across news, fashion, sport, and magazine coverage.[2] Daily editions favored short, accessible texts, while more intellectual and political writing was reserved for the weekend edition.[9]

One press-history account describes Hadashot as "a journalist's journal: vibrant, sometimes embarrassingly yellow, at other times excessively highbrow."[11] It was also characterized as "decidedly anti-establishment," a reputation reinforced by its early confrontations with military censorship.[8][6] Yedioth Aharonoth and Maariv gradually adopted many of its innovations, including larger and more colorful photographs, shorter headlines, and a younger writing style.[2]

Despite its cultural and journalistic impact, Hadashot never achieved commercial success. Retrospectives describe persistently low circulation, and one account argues that the Israeli public was not yet ready for its combination of condensed news, large photographs, and serious headlines.[9][12] The cited retrospectives provide no specific circulation or financial figures.[9][12]

As competitors absorbed many of its innovations, the paper's competitive advantage eroded.[2] Staff departures compounded the difficulty: Adam Baruch and Dov Yudkovsky led a group of colleagues to Maariv in 1992.[2] Hadashot ceased publication in November 1993, nine years after its founding.[11][2] Workers were informed of the closure by a pager message telling them they no longer had jobs.[9] Haaretz subsequently hired approximately a quarter of its journalists and editors.[2]

National Library of Israel archive pages report slightly different totals for the digitized collection. One lists 2,838 issues and 162,705 pages, while another lists 2,839 issues and 162,737 pages; both span 4 March 1984 to 29 November 1993.[4][13]

Hadashot is remembered as a transformative force in Israeli journalism. The National Library of Israel identifies it as one of the "most prominent and important harbingers of the new wave in Israeli journalism."[4] Its emergence also formed part of a broader shift away from party-affiliated newspapers toward independent, mass-market journalism.[11]

Prominent figures who began their careers at the paper included politicians Gideon Sa'ar and Nitzan Horowitz, journalist and commentator Amnon Levy, filmmaker Gal Uchovsky, and media personality Natan Zahavi.[12] Horowitz, a former foreign-news reporter, described Hadashot as an innovative product that did things no other Israeli newspaper had previously done.[12]

Its confrontation with military censorship during the Bus 300 affair became a landmark in the history of Israeli press freedom, while the wider scandal culminated in a reckoning within the security establishment.[5][14] The paper's innovations in color photography, bold layout, shorter texts, and younger writing were adopted by its competitors and became enduring features of the Israeli press.[1][2]

Hadashot's most consequential confrontation with the authorities arose from the Bus 300 hijacking of 12 April 1984, when four Palestinian terrorists seized an Egged civilian bus and its passengers. Two terrorists were killed when security forces stormed the bus, while the public was told that all four had died during the operation. After The New York Times reported that two had been captured alive, Hadashot cited the report in defiance of censorship. Several days later, it also reported against the censor's instruction that an investigative commission had been established.[6]

Photographs taken at the scene contradicted the initial official account. Alex Levac recalled that his photograph showed one terrorist being led away alive, while Ynetnews reports that photographs showed two surviving terrorists.[3][7] A separate press-history account dates publication of the front-page photograph to 1986 and says Hadashot did not submit it for censor approval. That account states that Defense Minister Moshe Arens ordered the newspaper closed for several days because the photograph revealed the faces of Shin Bet personnel.[5]

A documented April 1984 censorship order concerned Hadashot's uncensored report that Arens had established an inquiry commission headed by Major General Meir Zorea. Chief Military Censor Brigadier General Yitzhak Shani barred the paper from appearing for five days under the Emergency Regulations. Hadashot petitioned the High Court, arguing that the report was not security-related, but the court rejected the petition.[14] Globes accounts conflict over whether this suspension lasted three or five days.[14][6] A Jewish Virtual Library press history gives a four-day closure.[11] Sources also differ on the timing of the photograph-related closure: an encyclopedia account places it in 1984, while another press history dates the photograph's publication to 1986.[8][5]

The paper's editors were prosecuted for publishing the censored reports and were later acquitted by the District Court and, two years afterward, by the Supreme Court.[6] Former Shin Bet deputy head Reuven Hasak and colleagues Rafi Malka and Peleg Radai refused to participate in a cover-up and presented evidence to Attorney-General Yitzhak Zamir, who opened a criminal investigation.[7] Shin Bet chief Avraham Shalom was ultimately forced to resign and later admitted guilt and sought clemency from President Chaim Herzog.[5]