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Yisrael B'Aliya's demand comes after years of stories in the Israeli press that highlighted the fact that various criminals and unsavory characters were newcomers from the former Soviet Union. The message was that many Russian immigrants are crooks.

While veteran columnist Nahum Barnea understands why the Russian newcomers are making the demand, he warns of muzzling the press.

"Even in Russia, they learned that problems of this sort can't be solved by legal edicts," he said.

His remarks appeared in a new bimonthly Israeli journalism review, Ha'ayin Hashviit ("The Seventh Eye"), which discusses other examples of media coverage that anger particular groups.

The ultrareligious dislike the way they are portrayed in the secular press, where the term "black" (relating to their garb but also, of course, having other implications) is often used.

Israel's version of the New York Times, Ha'aretz, used terms such as "black religious coercion" and" "black crows." The newspaper described secular forces as "sane."

The weekly Kol Yerushalayim observed that the street "Emek Refaim has become one of the most secular and sanest streets in Jerusalem."

Also cited in the magazine are examples of how the ultrareligious press describes secularists.

One publication, Hamishpacha, wrote, "A special law should be passed to permit the trial of kibbutzniks and their helpers in Nuremberg-style courts."

And not to be outdone, the religious paper Yated Ne'eman said that "the secularists are bloodsuckers who are here under false pretenses, living in a land that belongs to us."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also annoyed at how the media spotlights his foibles and those of his wife and advisers.

But, as columnist B. Michael said in "The Underwear of the Overlords," that's democracy.

"A person who dreams of rising to the top in public life should realize that he will no longer have a private life if he achieves his ambition," the columnist wrote.

"Everything he does will be subjected to scrutiny. It will be as if four cameras are always focused on him, as if seven microphones always stand ready to eavesdrop on his every word.

"If he does try to keep something private, that will probably be his undoing."

Meanwhile, the Israeli press has no qualms about mentioning from where alleged criminals come.

A recent front page of a supplement to the leading daily Yediot Achronot carried two headlines that read:

"The Russian mafia has more than 35 representatives in Israel" and "These guys make the Italian mafia look like amateurs."

Below the headlines ran a large photograph of four attractive young women. It was captioned: "A group of Russian prostitutes awaiting deportation."