Employees of the Makor Rishon newspaper will hold a demonstration in front of the offices of the Antitrust Commissioner at noon, calling for the approval of the purchase of the newspaper by the end of this coming weekend, thus preventing its closure and the dismissal of employees.
This morning (Tuesday), a support ad from dozens of intellectuals, activists, and media figures was published on the newspaper's front page, calling on the Antitrust Commissioner to: "Approve the sale of the newspaper to the Adelson Group.".
The ad reads: "For several weeks, a request to approve the purchase of the newspaper 'Makor Rishon' by the 'Israel Hayom' group of Rishon Sheldon Adelson has been on the desk of the Antitrust Commissioner, Professor David Gila.
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""One of the most famous is that Israel Hayom is facing a sharp dispute regarding its marketing and editorial policy - and yet our opinion is that this dispute should not be allowed to influence the approval of the Makor Rishon acquisition deal.".
""'Makor Rishon' is a quality, long-standing newspaper with many readers, which has an important voice in the Israeli opinion market. Like many media outlets, it recently ran into financial difficulties, but has now been given a reasonable opportunity to escape them. The antitrust commissioner is supposed to review the deal, but in our opinion the review process is too long in relation to the newspaper's emergency situation and could lead to its demise.
""In fact, many of the employees have already been placed on unpaid leave, and the others are only receiving partial pay. The court trustee, CPA Chen Berdichev, announced that starting this Thursday, May 1, he will no longer be able to allow the newspaper to operate. In other words, there are only a few days left until the fate of Makor Rishon will be decided for Shvat or Hesed. Therefore, the commissioner must make a quick decision. In the current situation, we call on the commissioner to approve the deal, as it is doubtful whether the newspaper will be able to survive the period of its renewed offering for sale.""
Among the signatories to the document are Prof. Asa Kasher, Prof. Manny Mautner, Prof. Yedidiya Stern, Prof. Asher Cohen, Prof. Moshe Negvi, Prof. Israel Oman, Prof. Yechiam Weitz, Prof. Yaron Ezrachi, journalist Yaron London, Israel Prize laureate for communication Moti Kirshenbaum, Israel Prize laureate for communication Yaakov Ahimeir, Israel Prize laureate for communication Alex Liebeck, journalist Keren Neubach, MK Zehava Galon, coalition chairman MK Yariv Levin, former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg, singer Yehoram Gaon, former Yesha Council chairman Danny Dayan, Yaakov Ahimeir and more.
