Apr. 27, 2016

Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post writes that Freedom House has downgraded its assessment of Israel from “free” to “partly free.’ The move was based on the influence of the free newspaper Israel Hayom that is owned by Sheldon Adelson, a supporter of Prime Minister Netanyahu. The organization claims that the popular free paper is damaging to other media outlets. When asked whether it would be better if Israel banned the paper, a spokesman for Freedom House said that also would be a serious infringement on press freedom. So the very existence of a free news source makes Israel less free, according to “Freedom House.” I wonder if they are aware that most people get their news from free internet sites these days.