(IsraelNN.com)
Yisraeli - a ‘metro’ paper, meaning it is distributed free and financed by advertising- was originally distributed on Israel’s trains when it was first launched several months ago. It is now available at bus stations, on public buses and even at gas stations.

The paper takes a more right-wing ideological stand than the three leading print papers Haaretz, Maariv and Yediot. and is owned by Shlomo Ben-Zvi, who also owns part of the Makor Rishon (‘Primary Source’) weekly.

Now, according to a report in the Haaretz business publication The Marker, Yediot Acharonot plans to go head-to-head with Yisraeli.

This would not be Yediot’s first attempt to nip Yisraeli’s success in the bud. Copies of Yediot’s daily paper have been sold for just a shekel outside train stations.

Commuter newspapers have proven to be highly effective in other countries, with multiple competing papers being offered on streets and aboard public transportation.

Currently 130,000 copies of the 16-20 page Yisraeli paper are printed a day. The paper features witty headlines and focuses on general news and feature stories presented as short news items of up to 300 words, as well as color photos. According to Ben-Zvi, the format is tailored to the brief reading time – averaging 22 minutes - available to Israeli bus and train passengers.

A hallmark of the paper has become the right-leaning editorial cartoons, which use humor to mercilessly lampoon the Israeli left-wing, as well as the Olmert government, especially in the wake of the summer’s war with Hizbullah.