ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 deals with the first stages of the establishment of Ha-Zvi, the first popular Hebrew-language newspaper in Palestine—and, in fact, the first newspaper in this language, and of this genre, in the history of the modern Hebrew press.
The process by which Ha-Zvi was created and consolidated as a vehicle for the masses between 1884 and 1908 and the gradual construction of its editorial function with the enlistment of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda’s second wife, Hemda, and his son, Ben-Zion (who adopted the nom de plume Itamar Ben-Avi), are examined.
The question asked in Chapter 1 concerns the identity of Ben-Yehuda’s readership in Ha-Zvi. Defining the target population is cardinal in examining the transformation of this newspaper into a popular medium, its editorial strategy, its frequency of appearance, and its methods of production and circulation. The analysis in this chapter identifies and examines the evolution of the journal between 1884 and 1908, the readership, the contents read, the reading practices invoked (physical location, collective reading, reading aloud or silently), and their effects.
