Israel, Status of Media in

A general overview of media in the State of Israel, with a population of less than 7 million at the beginning of the 21st century, points to an especially rich and variegated map. This currently includes, inter alia, a public broadcasting service which operates three television channels (two of which are satellite channels including one channel targeting viewers in neighboring Arab-speaking countries) and a radio station which broadcasts on eight channels, two commercial television channels, several cable TV companies, one satellite TV company, one national-military radio station, 14 regional-commercial radio stations, 15 daily newspapers, and hundreds of local newspapers as well as hundreds of magazines and journals. According to official statistics, of the 1121 newspapers and periodicals (excluding local publications) published in Israel, 56% are in the Hebrew language, 26% are in English, and 5% are in Russian, with the remainder published in a host of other languages.