A five-part docu-series that reveals the dramas and great forces behind the scenes of the world of journalism in Israel. Creators Omri Asenheim and Gilad Tokatli reveal, through rare recordings, dozens of interviewees, and manuscripts that are being revealed for the first time, the power struggles between the powerful families in the Israeli media. This is a story about a media aristocracy whose heroes created the world of Israeli print journalism and at the same time made, and still make, economic and political capital from their ability to link money, power, and information. A story with plots, passions, human tragedies, and passionate battles, involving politicians, tycoons, government officials, and members of the law enforcement system.
Whether you choose “Yediot Aharonot” or prefer “Israel Hayom”, loyal to “Maariv” or addicted to “Haaretz”, the series reveals to you who really pulls the strings, dictates your agenda, and decides your fate. Who are the families that control the media in Israel? How did they gain their power, and how did they deteriorate into problematic relationships between capital – government – newspapers? Who did the newspapers protect all these years, who did they cover with flattering headlines, and who did they try to eliminate? The series goes back to the beginning of the written press in Israel, from the great “putsch” at Yedioth Ahronoth that led to the birth of Maariv and the bitter competition between the two newspapers, through the “wiretapping affair” – one of the most serious criminal cases in the country’s history, and up to these days, the days of the trial of the Case 2000 affair. With the help of a comprehensive investigation that lasted three years, and included dozens of interviewees, rare recordings, manuscripts that are being revealed for the first time, and hundreds of pages of protocols, the series unfolds the tycoons’ war for control of the written press and describes the turbulent inheritance battles that took place and are still taking place within the publishing families.
Episode 2: Trouble haunts Noah Moses. Dov Yudkovsky becomes editor-in-chief, and “Yediot Aharonot” overtakes “Maariv” for the first time
Episode 3: After the death of Noah Mozes in a car accident, a battle for succession begins between the son Noni and the editor Yudkowski. Noni wins and marks a new rival – the Nimrodi family, the surprise buyer of Maariv.
Episode 4: The wiretapping affair explodes when it is revealed that Mozes and Nimrod conducted wiretapping against journalists and public figures. Rafi Friedan, the key figure in the affair, speaks for the first time about his role in it
