If you haven’t been following, Israeli newspaper, Maariv, is facing a similar fate to other old media firms. The 64-year-old paper has been knee-deep in bankruptcy proceedings.
The childhood paper for a generation of Israelis, the battle over Maariv’s could harbinge the future of Israel, in general.
Of course, print media is the real culprit here but the ensuing battle — the fight for employees and benefits, the case for bailing out the firm to save the thousand plus jobs at the paper, the call for the government protection — is very much the fight of the entrepreneurial Israel vs. the old Israeli socialism.
Ultimately, the government didn’t step in and the bankruptcy court ultimately found a buyer for Maariv (saving jobs along the way). As an immigrant myself, I still wonder at the interesting blend of social justice, large government, and cerebral capitalism that all simultaneously coexist here.
