With an exclusive article about a new plan by Accountant General Yaron Zelekha to contain corruption and an adjacent article by Dan Margalit about the war waged by the sons of light, headed by Zelekha and Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, against the sons of darkness, led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, it was difficult to overlook yesterday's first edition of Yisrael Hayom. This is not just a newspaper, it is a newspaper with an agenda.

"There is free speech and freedom of the press in Israel," wrote Yisrael Hayom's editor, Amos Regev, in the opening editorial headed "A Newspaper is Born," "but not all opinions are given appropriate expression. It sometimes seems as though 'news' is only bad news, whereas the good news, the beautiful aspects, are kept from the readers. This is not our opinion. The Israeli public deserves a better press, a 'different kind of journalism.'" Further along in his somewhat pretentious editorial Regev adds: "Our outlook is not shaped by the distinction made in the world between 'correct' and 'incorrect,' but rather by the obligation to make the public aware of all the information in a professional and reliable manner; so the reader, should he want to, will be able to choose between 'good' and 'bad.'"

Yesterday, 150,000 copies of the "different" newspaper, owned by American Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson, were distributed for free throughout the country. Some readers enjoyed the privilege of having the paper delivered to their doorstep - including several hundred people whom Yisrael Hayom considers to be public opinion leaders - while others picked it up at distribution points, including major intersections and hospitals. The paper's distribution is slated to expand significantly in the near future, allowing it to compete with the mass-circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth, which estimates put at about 280,000 copies on weekdays. As has already been reported, Yedioth plans to publish a freebie of its own very soon, in an effort to strike at the new competitor.

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At this stage Yisrael Hayom is printing 32 stapled pages. Many of the news items are very short, and resemble online articles, but the main report on Zelekha's war on corruption was accompanied by three feisty opinion pieces from Margalit, Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich and former head of the police investigations division Moshe Mizrachi. The news pages feature the names of experienced reporters who used to work in other media and have been recruited for the new media initiative, including Gideon Alon, Zvi Harel, Edna Adatto, Ilan Gattegno, Shlomo Tzezana and Hadas Steiff.

The culture, economics, lifestyle and sports sections are relatively modest. Yisrael Hayom offers less reading material than Yedioth Ahronoth and the other mass-circulation daily, Ma'ariv, with which it aims to compete, although its production is indeed slick. "Yisrael Hayom is not a 'freebie' distributed on public transportation," wrote Regev yesterday. "We will give you a serious newspaper that will grow, adding more pages and a weekend edition." Regev also enumerated "sharp and clear" guidelines for the new newspaper and promised that it will not provide a stage for publicity and spin.

Is that so? In fact, the main headline of Yisrael Hayom's first edition looks like a very well-conceived spin cooked up in the traditions of Accountant General Zelekha. The report states that in the near future Zelekha will hand the government a plan for the establishment of a court of ethics to try politicians suspected of corruption. "The fight for probity in the work of the government has reached its peak," Zelekha is quoted as saying in the report, "and I have no intention of abandoning it." In Margalit's enthusiastic support piece only one question is missing: How come a Finance Ministry official, however senior, is engaged in setting up a new legal body?

The newspaper also emanates a tone of sharp criticism of Olmert, the object of Margalit's and Zelekha's loathing. Opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) is a crony of Yisrael Hayom's proprietor Adelson and also a close friend of editor Amos Regev. The inevitable question concerns whether and to what extent the newspaper will be harnessed to serve Netanyahu in his efforts to depose Olmert and re-conquer the premiership.

Many weeks ago, before the newspaper was first published, some of its reporters related that editor Regev and his deputy Baruch Ron had instructed them to bring along as many exclusive stories as possible, so the newspaper would be able to establish itself quickly as a serious competitor to Yedioth Ahronoth. The gallery of commentators that have been recruited to the opinion pages also testifies to Yisrael Hayom's desire to acquire a pluralist pan-Israeli image. Among the op-ed writers are playwright Yehoshua Sobol, Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On, Chemi Shalev, Professor Itamar Rabinovitch, Likud MK Reuven Rivlin and Major General (res.) Yaakov Amidror.

However, there are also signs that indicate the exact opposite. "There is no question about it, Bibi [Netanyahu] was involved up to his neck in the process of establishing the new newspaper," says someone who has discussed the subject with Netanyahu. "He talks about this rather freely and does not withhold his opinion on the subject. After all, it's impossible to have any conversation with Bibi without him mentioning how frustrated he is with the media's conduct when it comes to him. He applied a lot of pressure on Adelson to buy Ma'ariv, both because it's a familiar brand name and also because he wanted to take revenge on that newspaper, which he believes was out to get him during the last election campaign. But from the moment the purchase of Ma'ariv didn't work out, Bibi adjusted himself to the alternative plan of establishing Yisrael Hayom, and he is very enthusiastic about it. He says that the difference between Noni Mozes [Arnon Mozes, the publisher of Yedioth Ahronoth] and Adelson is that Mozes wants to influence and to make a profit at the same time, while Adelson just wants to influence the public with his newspaper."

A close associate of the Likud chairman who prefers to remain anonymous confirms, "Netanyahu is pinning great hopes on the new newspaper. More than that, had it not been for Bibi, I am not sure Adelson would have started this whole affair. It's hard for me to envision Yisrael Hayom attacking Netanyahu, even if sometimes it will be compelled to do so symbolically."

In the meantime, all of Yisrael Hayom's competitors are maintaining a thunderous silence. All of them, that is, except for Ma'ariv editor Amnon Dankner. "When the fox joins up with the gorilla,, one is allowed to worry," Dankner wrote two weeks ago. His paper, which in any case has increasingly been losing readers, could be seriously harmed in the wake of Yisrael Hayom's entry into the market. "Adelson, the wealthiest Jew in the world, is more of a King Kong than a gorilla. A King Kong with an agenda that shakes the earth not under the feet of the newspapers but rather under the feet of democracy in Israel.

"Much has been written and said about Arcadi Gaydamak and too little about Adelson, who can swallow Gaydamak without feeling anything stuck in his throat. Here is an influential Jew, a citizen of the United States who has come to a position of massive wealth. A freebie behind which stands a bottomless pocket, a burning desire for influence and a connection with someone for whom the media ideal is Fox News [Dankner is referring to Benjamin Netanyahu - A.C.] should be a cause for concern not only for Ma'ariv and Yedioth Ahronoth."