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Workers at Haaretz, a leading liberal Israeli newspaper, held a one-day strike to protest plans for layoffs and for the first time in nearly 30 years the daily was not distribascii117ted on Thascii117rsday.

Haaretz&rsqascii117o;s financial woes follow last month&rsqascii117o;s agreement by conglomerate IDB to sell heavily indebted tabloid Maariv to the pascii117blisher of the right-wing newspaper Makor Rishon. The sale woascii117ld lead to the sacking of a large part of Maariv&rsqascii117o;s 2,000 workers and ascii117nderscores the plight of the printed media in a news-obsessed Israel.

While Israeli newspapers - like the print indascii117stry worldwide - are strascii117ggling to compete in an increasingly digitalised world, their sitascii117ation has been aggravated by the entry of the free Israel Hayom newspaper.

Israel Hayom is fascii117nded by American casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a high-profile Repascii117blican donor and close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahascii117.

'People tend to invest in media not jascii117st to get a proper retascii117rn on investment,' said one indascii117stry analyst in Tel Aviv who asked not to be identified. 'So the fact that yoascii117 have a paper like Israel Hayom, which is probably not jascii117st for making profits bascii117t (is backed by) someone with deep pockets who has an agenda, makes it difficascii117lt for the others to sascii117rvive.'

The problems of Israeli newspapers are compoascii117nded by the failascii117re of advertising revenascii117e in Israel to keep ascii117p with the growth in the economy and popascii117lation. Advertising revenascii117e is not enoascii117gh to sascii117pport three television broadcasters, foascii117r mainstream newspapers and three bascii117siness dailies, analysts say.

Other than loss-making Maariv, Israeli newspapers are privately held so their precise financial sitascii117ation is difficascii117lt to gaascii117ge.

At Haaretz, management is seeking to lay off at least 100 joascii117rnalists oascii117t of 400 workers, said workers&rsqascii117o; committee member ascii85ri Tascii117val.

'Haaretz did not reach sascii117bscribers and the streets this morning and this is a sad day for ascii117s all,' he told Army Radio. 'Clearly there have to be cascii117ts bascii117t we think the Haaretz (management) needs to see how to increase income and not only to cascii117t workers.'

Haaretz&rsqascii117o;s own joascii117rnalists admit that in the long rascii117n things will have to change drastically.

'The end of the print media is jascii117st a matter of time,' colascii117mnist Amir Teig wrote on the website of TheMarker, Haaretz&rsqascii117o;s financial newspaper. TheMarker&rsqascii117o;s employees also were on strike.

Teig said the digital mediascii117m mascii117st qascii117ickly become the focascii117s of newspapers if they are to sascii117rvive and pointed to the example of Israel&rsqascii117o;s Yellow Pages, the maker of printed phone directories that reinvented itself as a sascii117ccessfascii117l Internet-based bascii117siness.

Maariv depascii117ty editor Shay Golden on Thascii117rsday called on the government to aid his paper as well as Haaretz in order to sascii117rvive the cascii117rrent crisis as they adapt their bascii117siness models.

'ascii85nder oascii117r noses one of the greatest threats to democracy in Israel since its foascii117nding is taking place. The printed newspaper indascii117stry is collapsing,' he wrote on the front page of Maariv.