Haaretz – Bias and Credibility

• Overall, we rate Haaretz Left biased based on story selection and editorial positions that strongly favor the Left and High for factual reporting due to a clean fact-check record.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEFT
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: Israel
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MODERATE FREEDOM
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

Haaretz is an Israeli daily newspaper with Hebrew and English editions based in Tel Aviv and is Israel’s oldest daily newspaper. In North America, it comes out as a weekly newspaper.

Haaretz was launched in British Palestine by the British army, in 1918, and in 1919, they were bought by the Zionist leader and philanthropist Yitzhak Leib Goldberg. Haaretz was initially named Hadashot Me’Haaretz (“News of the Land”); later, the name became Haaretz (“The Land”).

The paper and website focus on news, economy, business, culture, entertainment, and international affairs across Israel and the Middle East region. The editor-in-chief is Aluf Benn, and the publisher is the third generation of his family, Amos Schocken. Guy Rolnik is deputy publisher and founder of TheMarker (Israeli media organization). Rami Guez is the CEO of Haaretz Group. For a complete list of Haaretz Group Management, please see here.

Read our profile on Israel’s media and government.

Funded by / Ownership

According to the Financial Times, Haaretz does not report its earnings. They were also the first Israeli paper to introduce the paywall. For subscription fees, please see here.

Regarding ownership, In 1935, German Jewish businessman Salman Z. Schocken bought Haaretz. From 1939 to 1990, the publisher and editor were Gershom Schocken. In 2006, a 25% stake was sold to German publisher M. DuMont Schauber. In 2011, Russian-Israeli businessman Leonid Nevzlin acquired a 20% stake in the Haaretz Group. The Schocken family still owns 60% of its shares and controlling interest in the paper.

Analysis / Bias

In review, Haaretz is known to have a liberal editorial stance.  In 2017, however, they were also criticized by the left. For example, they published an op-ed titled “’religious Zionists’ are more dangerous to Israel than Hezbollah,” which caused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the left of center labor party to denounce the article. Haaretz often has been critical of Benjamin Netanyahu’s center-right government, such as in these editorials titled “Israel’s Snap Election Is a Makeup Exam for Democracy” and “Give Someone Else a Chance.”  When it comes to sourcing, they often hyperlink to themselves or use quotes; they also republish Reuters and Associated Press articles.

When covering world news about the USA, they use loaded language in their headlines, such as “Trump’s Peace Plan Could Be Called ‘Unexecutable,’ Pompeo Tells Jewish Leaders.” Opinion pieces regarding the USA tend to lean left, with members of the former Trump administration portrayed negatively through strong language such as this: Opinion Jared Kushner Just Killed the Palestinian Peace Camp. In general, Haaretz reports factual news with strongly left-leaning editorials.

During the Israel-Hamas conflict of 2023, Haaretz presented a balanced perspective with articles like this: Hamas Committed Documented Atrocities. But a Few False Stories Feed the Deniers.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, we rate Haaretz Left biased based on story selection and editorial positions that strongly favor the Left and High for factual reporting due to a clean fact-check record. (8/30/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 12/07/2023)

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/