Tuesday, October 09, 2007

'Israeli' newspaper back from vacation

When you're a newspaper in trouble, isn't in interesting how the vultures (i.e. reporters from other papers) begin to circle. The management and staff at the "Israeli" probably know that feeling. But they're back in business after a two-week holiday. Owner Shlomo Ben-Tzvi is printing again. Globes online says the Israeli's circulation has been reduced from 40,000 a day to "reportedly less than 20,000 a day."

The Israeli is facing competition these days from Israel Today, or Israel Hayom, owned by American casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has close ties to former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Adelson was a partner in the Israeli, but was pushed out in a court dispute. Now he's distributing more than 150,000 papers a day — far more than the 20,000 or less circulated by the Israeli.