The
Israel Hayom bill will go to a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation Sunday, pitting coalition parties against each other.
The bill in question, drafted by MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), but co-sponsored by MKs from Yisrael Beytenu, Bayit Yehudi, Hatnua and Yesh Atid – every coalition party but Likud – states it seeks to bolster the print newspaper industry by banning free newspapers.The legislation defines a free daily newspaper as one that is given out without payment six days a week and applies only to the four newspapers with the highest circulation in Israel, whatever they may be at a given time. The lowest-priced newspaper of the four cannot cost less than 70 percent of the second-lowest-priced paper, according to the bill.
