International Relations and Global Communication

Author: Chen Weixing
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-08-01
Features: For a considerable period after, it was considered the de facto newspaper of the Israeli Labor Party. In 1987, Canadian media magnate Conrad Black acquired The Jerusalem Post. Black himself held conservative political views, but the newspaper did not immediately follow suit in its political stance. It was only later, with changes in personnel, that the editor was replaced by someone with a right-leaning perspective, and the newspaper's political leanings shifted from left-wing to center-right. In 1997, the newspaper appointed a new editor, and some believed it had begun shifting toward "center-left." The political leanings of major newspapers are primarily reflected in their editorials and the selection of opinion pieces they publish, while news events are generally reported objectively. In addition to their own editorials, most major newspapers strive to balance the quantity of opinion pieces published each month according to their left-right stance, at least in form, to avoid excluding opposing viewpoints and attract a broader readership.
Basic Conditions of International Communication Media (1) International Broadcasting. Station Name: Israel Radio (Call Sign – Voice of Israel) Start Date: May 14, 1948 Languages: 13 Languages Daily Broadcast Hours: Total of approximately 48 hours Total Power of Transmitters: 1,900 kilowatts (including three Dutch Philips/300Kw, one American Continental/500Kw, one German Telefunken/500Kw as backup) Coverage: Most regions of the world Mutual Transmissions: With the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium via telephone or satellite Transmission Languages: Hebrew (20 hours), Arabic (18.5 hours), English (85 minutes), French (75 minutes), Spanish and Ladino (65 minutes), Russian (210 minutes), Persian (25 minutes), Yiddish (25 minutes), Romanian (20 minutes), Hungarian (15 minutes), Bulgarian (15 minutes), Georgian (15 minutes), Mughariya (10 minutes).
(2) International Television Broadcasting. A television education channel was launched in 1965, and other television programs began broadcasting in 1968, using Hebrew, Arabic, and a small amount of Russian. It uses one Amos satellite and 54 transmitters, covering the entire country. Currently, there are two channels nationwide: Channel One (CLlanneLOne), operated by the First Broadcasting Authority (IBA), and Channel Two (ChannelTwo), operated by the Second Broadcasting Authority (SBA). The rest are cable channels. Israel currently has no television programs broadcast internationally.
Notes: The weekday circulation of The Jerusalem Post is 27,500 copies, and the weekend circulation is 52,500 copies. It has a fixed of content from The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, and The New York Times, with weekly from French publications on Mondays. The Jerusalem Report is a bimonthly magazine, and in 1998, its publishing house merged with The Jerusalem Post. The Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz was founded in 1919 by Russian Zionist activists in Jerusalem and moved to Tel Aviv in 1922. In 1997, the newspaper formed a joint venture with The International Herald Tribune and began publishing its English edition with the latter's insert pages, with a daily circulation of 8 pages, 22,000 copies on weekdays, and 33,000 on weekends. Starting in February 1999, it began distributing in North America, but the circulation was very limited, with only a few thousand copies.
(4) International News Agencies. Israel Television and Radio (ITIM), the Hebrew acronym for the Israel Broadcasting Authority, was established in 1950 as Israel's only news agency, jointly owned by major newspapers and broadcasting institutions in Israel. The agency has over 500 journalists in Israel but no foreign correspondents, and it only publishes news in Hebrew. Its main function is to translate news reports from international news agencies into Hebrew for domestic news outlets and to provide Israeli news to foreign news agencies, averaging over 200 news releases daily.
(5) Use of New Media in International Communication. Israel's international communication primarily relies on broadcasting and newspapers, with shortwave radio being the main form of external broadcasting. Since September 1998, Israel Radio has cooperated with Jewish radio stations in the United States, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom to transmit Israel Radio programs via satellite, broadcasting them on local medium-wave radio stations, primarily targeting Jewish communities. The for satellite and telephone transmission is that the other party is interested in the programs and has the corresponding receiving equipment. On the other hand, the other party can insert advertisements while broadcasting Israel's radio programs, generating revenue for both sides without paying each other, which is mutually beneficial without excessive additional costs. Major international communication institutions in Israel have also set up high-quality websites on the internet.
(6) Representative International Communication Media. Voice of Israel (Call Sign – Voice of Israel). Israel Radio is Israel's national public radio station, with operations divided into internal and external services. Its external broadcasts use 13 languages. In terms of operations, it is equivalent to China International Radio in China. The predecessor of Israel Radio was the Palestine Broadcasting Service (PBS) established in 1936 during the British Mandate period, with the call sign "Voice of Jerusalem," managed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). At that time, it broadcast in English, Hebrew, and Arabic, though it did not use shortwave broadcasting, its programs could still be received in neighboring countries due to the small size of Palestine. On May 14, 1948, "Voice of Israel" used PBS's equipment to broadcast the Israeli Declaration of Independence, read by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, which was later designated as the birthdate of Israel Radio. In 1953, "Voice of Israel" added a broadcast program for new immigrants. In 1960, the Jewish Agency merged "Voice of Zion" with "Voice of Israel." After 1965, Israel Radio was managed by the First Broadcasting Authority (IBA). In the 1990s, the Jewish Agency and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs ceased funding the radio station. Israel Radio's external broadcasts are generally short and concise, with each broadcast lasting 15–20 minutes. Currently, its external broadcasts use 13 languages, totaling 48 hours daily. Some programs are simulcast both internally and externally. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the arrival of a large number of new immigrants, the radio station added a medium-wave internal immigrant broadcast network in 1991 (with the exception of other internal broadcasts, which were all on the FM band). It broadcasts in 12 languages for new immigrants, with 15 hours of daily broadcasts.
The Jerusalem Post. The Jerusalem Post was first published in 1932 as the Palestine Post, and was renamed The Jerusalem Post after Israel's establishment. The Jerusalem Post is not a newspaper for foreigners but rather a local newspaper for English-speaking Israelis, yet it holds a very important position in Israel's international communication. In fact, its uniqueness in the world of journalism is rare. As a local newspaper, its circulation is very limited, with 27,500 copies on weekdays and double that on weekends. In terms of circulation, it is only comparable to small-town newspapers in the United States, but its reputation and influence are even comparable to The Washington Post. The main reason is that Israel has long been a focal point of international news, and the newspaper has a good reputation and direct communication with English-language media worldwide. The Jerusalem Post's international editions, including the weekly English and French Jerusalem Post International and the English bimonthly Jerusalem Report, are the only ones truly distributed internationally, but their influence is far less than that of The Jerusalem Post (see Note 1 in Table 1).
Haaretz (English Edition). In 1998, the left-wing Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz launched an English edition, distributed in Israel by The International Herald Tribune. Starting in February 1999, it began distributing in North America (see Note 1 in Table 1).