The Israeli press covers the U.S. Jewish community only superficially, according to Judith Elizur of the Hebrew University Institute of Communications.
Elizur recently completed a study of coverage of the U.S. Jewish scene by four leading Hebrew dailies and the Israeli electronic media. She said that as a result of the superficial coverage Israeli leaders have little idea how their decisions affect American Jewry.
The study was commissioned by the Institute on American-Jewish-Israeli Relations of the American Jewish Committee. It counted the number of items on American Jewry appearing in the first weeks of January, April, July and October, 1982.
Of the Hebrew dailies, Yediot Aharonot was first with 35 items mentioning American Jewry, compared to 26 in Maariv, 11 in Haaretz and only three in Davar. Most stories dealt with Jewish organizations in the U.S., almost entirely in their Israel-related role, followed by those dealing with anti-Semitism and immigration.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
