Sheldon Adelson
Image by Getty Images
It has been a banner year for billionaire Sheldon Adelson, though some of his actions garnered a bunch of bad publicity, too. The casino mogul’s free newspaper, Israel Hayom, which has a strong right-wing slant, maintained its impressive reign as the largest Monday-through-Friday daily circulation newspaper in Israel.
Adelson also made a foray into the U.S media market by teaming up with a new nonprofit newswire, JointMedia News Service. Meanwhile, according to Forbes magazine, the man who once called himself “the richest Jew in the world” saw his wealth climb by $7 billion this year to $21 billion.
But Adelson, 78, also found himself embroiled in a major scandal that drew unwelcome attention to the American-Jewish influence over Israeli media. In September, Israel’s Channel 10 was forced to issue a humiliating apology for a critical report of Adelson that it broadcast. The station’s anchorman resigned on-air and the channel’s news chief and a senior editor stepped down, too.
The apology may have been a sober business decision in the face of a possible lawsuit. But observers could not help but note that U.S. billionaire Ronald Lauder, a friend of Adelson’s, owns a 25% stake in Channel 10. While some feared the episode could herald the start of Israeli media self-censorship, others predicted that the tsunami of negative publicity would deter Adelson from making such a fuss in the future.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
