Walla Culture Staff Resigns En Masse as Star Reporter Sagi Ben Nun Joins Haaretz
The entire staff of Walla Culture has resigned within three months over disputes with management. Star investigative reporter Sagi Ben Nun is leaving the portal to join Haaretz newspaper after a 12-year tenure.
The Israeli media landscape is witnessing a dramatic shift as the entire staff of "Walla Culture," one of the country's most popular and influential cultural sections, has resigned in protest. The final blow came with the resignation of acclaimed cultural correspondent Sagi Ben Nun, who is returning to the prestigious "Gallery" supplement of "Haaretz" newspaper after 12.5 years at Walla.
A Total Collapse of a Flagship Section
Ben Nun's departure marks the completion of an unprecedented exodus. Within just three months, all six permanent writers and editors who formed the backbone of "Walla Culture" until June have resigned.
Prior to Ben Nun's resignation, the section's editor Nir Yahav, deputy editor Ido Yeshayahu, and prominent critics Amit Slonim, Nadav Menuhin, and Avner Shavit all stepped down. While Adi Gold was recently appointed as the new editor, the department has been drastically downsized from six full-time positions to just two.
This mass departure is part of a broader wave of resignations at Walla, which includes prominent journalists such as David Wertheim, Yaniv Granot, Guy Elster, Uriel Daskal, and Raviv Schechter.
Protesting the Management
The crisis stems from deep-seated professional disagreements with the website's editor-in-chief and management. In a letter sent to Walla CEO Gideon Ozan, several journalists expressed their concerns:
"In recent months, a profound change has occurred in Walla's character. Content management has drifted away from journalistic hands, editorial considerations have been replaced solely by target-driven metrics, and the professional space in which the newsroom operated has steadily shrunk. The result is a fundamental blow to our ability to produce reliable, critical, and high-quality journalism."
Sagi Ben Nun's Journalistic Legacy
Sagi Ben Nun began his career in youth media, served in Army Radio (Galei Tzahal), and worked as a screenwriter and television researcher. He is widely recognized for his high-profile investigative reporting in the cultural sphere.
His most notable achievement was exposing the sexual harassment and assault allegations against actor Moshe Ivgy, which triggered a police investigation and ultimately led to Ivgy's conviction and imprisonment. Ben Nun also brought to light allegations involving television host Assi Azar, and veteran media figures Dan Margalit, Chaim Yavin, and Didi Harari.
With his move to "Haaretz," where he previously worked two decades ago, Ben Nun returns to traditional print and digital journalism, leaving Walla's cultural department in a state of severe crisis.
