פוליטיזציה של חדשות רכות בזמן משבר: סיקור תחרויות האירוויזיון, 2025-2023: [מתוך המדור: מאמרים מקוריים]

This article examines the politicization of soft news in Israel, through ananalysis of the Eurovision Song Contest coverage during the years 2023-2025, against the backdrop of the Gaza war. Adopting a perspective of the media as a hybrid arena, where the boundaries between hard and soft news are often blurred, the study explores how an event commonly perceived as cultural and entertaining is covered during times of tension and crisis. The research is based on a combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of 328news items from three major Israeli digital news outlets: Haaretz, Israel Ha-yom, and Ynet. The quantitative findings indicate a sharp increase in the political framing of Eurovision as the military conflict escalated, alongside a continued presence of sensational, gossip-oriented, and escapist framings.The qualitative analysis sharpens the dynamic between entertainment-driven drama and the symbolic processing of collective anxiety, highlighting the transformation of soft news topics into a space in which national tensions and political identities are shaped and interpreted. The article contributes to the understanding of the media's shifting role in times of crisis and offers a renewed perspective on soft news as a significant arena for "serious" public and political engagement, particularly during such periods.