The war increased the consumption of news, but it caused a dramatic change in the ultra-Orthodox public: a survey conducted at the end of 2023, when the fateful news was circulating, found that television had become the main source of information for the ultra-Orthodox.
Audience segmentation in ultra-orthodox society, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
In a survey conducted by the Direct Falls Institute, respondents from the ultra-orthodox sector were asked about the main platforms from which they consume war commentary and reports, and the findings are surprising: 32% answered that they get most of their information from television - and by a considerable margin, from the websites, of which 19% of the sector are the main news provider.
The other sources are Telegram, WhatsApp, radio, press and Twitter (see the table).
"In order to watch the broadcasts, they don't need to be connected to cable and satellite," explains a professional at the polling institute, adding that the ultra-orthodox watch TV mainly through YouTube, and Channel 14 stars in the segment.
Yanon Magal, photo: from Channel 14
The rest of the survey data, according to him, reveal that "Yenon Magal and Amit Segal are very strong figures in the sector, and the ultra-Orthodox follow them religiously on Telegram and in the WhatsApp groups. Another popular Telegram channel in the sector is 'Abu Ali Express', of a graduate Arabist 8200 who follows the Arab networks and brings documents from the field alongside his interpretations".
The answers and implications
The one who refuses to be moved is the educationist Rabbi Mordechai Beloy, who says: "First, let's define who is ultra-Orthodox. The fact that people watched Channel 14 does not necessarily mean that they did so through YouTube. In any case, a person whose children study in ultra-Orthodox educational institutions signs that their parents do not have access to the open Internet, and those who use On an iPhone or on the Internet, Proutz explicitly knows that if they find out about it in the community, they won't let him go to the Torah."
Amit Segal, photo: Gideon Markovich
These words of his may perhaps explain the discrepancies between the survey data and answers we received from random passers-by in Bnei Brak, in a photo article we edited on the subject: for many of them the newspaper, the kosher telephone lines and the radio are the information providers, while those defined in the "modern" sector consume information on the Internet.
Although a filmed answer has social consequences in the sector, the average ultra-Orthodox does not formulate a worldview just from an article in "Yad Na'im".
Will this have an effect on additional layers of society in Israel?
time will tell.
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