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.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
