IN ADDITION to the shrinking readerships and advertising downturns that have ravaged print journalism across most of the developed world, Israeli dailies are up against an outside competitor with deep pockets: an American casino magnate called Sheldon Adelson, whose right-wing freesheet Yisrael Hayom (Israel Today) has become the country’s largest-circulation daily.

Maariv, which proudly held that position for decades, is likely to shrink and may become a weekly, following a court-approved sale by receivers. Haaretz, a quality broadsheet, is firing about a quarter of its editorial staff in an effort to stay afloat. “The whole industry is in existential crisis,” says its publisher, Amos Schocken. Yedioth Ahronoth, the powerful tabloid that at its peak a decade ago was the highest-circulation newspaper in the Western world relative to the population of its market, has seen its weekend print run drop by a third.

Mr Adelson is a leading supporter of the Republican Party in America and of Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, in Israel, and his newspaper uninhibitedly reflects those preferences. But Yisrael Hayom also provides its readers with competent coverage of national and international news, sport and culture and a broad spread of local columnists.

Its deeply discounted advertising rates have hurt the other papers badly. It also offers home-delivery at rock-bottom rates. Insiders estimate Mr Adelson’s ongoing investment in the paper at $20m a year.

Yisrael Hayom says the public clearly prefers the “Zionist, Israeli and patriotic alternative to the line pedalled by the rest of the media”. It points out that the others, especially Maariv, were in trouble before Yisrael Hayom began printing in 2007. It argues, too, that its daily run of more than 300,000 copies is an economic boon for its printers, chief among them Haaretz.

Maariv and Haaretz have made things harder for themselves by fighting with each other. Maariv was bought last year by one of Israel’s richest men, Nochi Dankner, allegedly with the specific purpose of weakening Haaretz. Mr Dankner said the paper had been persecuting him personally; Haaretz said it was conducting a legitimate campaign against monopolies and the over-concentration of corporate ownership in relatively few hands.

Last month Haaretz journalists held a one-day strike as a protest against the impending firings. They say that they are committed to the newspaper’s “doveish” values and ethical standards, but that relentless downsizing is eroding their ability to sustain them.