Itim, the Israeli news agency, closed down yesterday. Its stockholders - the representatives of Yedioth Ahronoth, Ma'ariv, Haaretz, Hatzofeh and The Jerusalem Post - convened on Tuesday and decided to close down the wire service, which has debts of some NIS 2 million.
Itim's staff found a note on the agency's office locked door when they arrived at work yesterday morning, informing them that the news agency was closed.
The moves prompting the agency's immediate closure were a suit filed by the French news agency, AFP, for a debt of NIS 900,000 and a suit filed by 20 workers from Itim, whom Itim owes NIS 550,000. The Labor Court recently ruled in favor of the staff and issued a lien on three apartments owned by Itim.
But the news agency's demise is not about a legal dispute or financial debt. It instead marks the end of a news medium created in another communications era, which received a death blow from the Internet.
Itim was established in 1950 by the Israel Broadcasting Authority and daily newspapers as a backup system for reports about events their own staff could not cover.
Hit hard by the Internet
For decades Itim functioned as the newspapers' stepdaughter. "At the beginning of the `90s the newspapers still used Itim's stories a lot, but frequently omitted its credit," a reporter who worked in the news agency at the time says. "This completely erased Itim's existence from the public's awareness."
He said the agency had a promising business potential, but the large newspapers did not want it to grow. Despite this, Itim expanded its coverage and in the `90s employed about 30 reporters.
It was considered an unglamorous workplace, but a sound basis for beginning a journalistic career.
The crushing blow came at the end of the `90s, with the beginning of the Internet era. Itim's immediate updating advantage, based on its telephone connection to the newspapers' offices, disappeared.
The large Israeli newspapers went online with their own news sites, using Itim less and less, while Itim continued working in the old system, without even an Internet service.
In 1998 Itim started firing workers and from 2001 began accumulating debts. It recently tried to launch an English language news service, believing in the demand for reports of Israel and the Middle East overseas.
But a senior manager in one of the daily newspapers yesterday doubted the attempt's chances for success. "Israel is the most heavily covered place in the world. Every medium has representatives here, covering every event from every angle. How could Itim compete with that?" he asked.
