AG comes out against bill that would give government control of TV viewer ratings
Television networks say measure will lead to ‘channeling of private advertising funds to political needs’; comms minister: Attorney general’s ‘opinion as important as garlic peel’
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The government advanced legislation on Monday that would put it in charge of evaluating and determining television viewer ratings, something which Israel’s major broadcasters have said would amount to political intervention in the media market.
The bill, which the Ministerial Committee for Legislation backed ahead of its advancement in the Knesset, has spawned a new battle between the government and the attorney general, who warned that it would infringe upon key freedoms, as the legislation would legally obligate TV broadcasters to submit viewer data with sensitive information to a government-designated entity and force networks to publish these figures.
The legislation, submitted by Likud MK Shalom Danino and supported by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, would see the communications minister determine “a system” for measuring TV viewing figures, and force Israel’s various broadcasters to report their own data to the entity chosen by the government, including details of viewers’ age, gender, social background and place of residence.
It would also force the networks to display their viewing figures at peak hours.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara issued a position paper on Monday asserting that the legislation would violate key constitutional principles, including the right to privacy and freedom of the press, and that the bill should be advanced as government legislation so its controversial stipulations can be sufficiently considered.
Karhi, of the ruling Likud party, dismissed the attorney general’s criticism, saying that the bill would be amended to protect viewer privacy. He also said it was the government, not Baharav-Miara, that would establish the core principles of the legislation.
According to the bill’s explanatory notes, the legislation’s stated purpose is to create more reliable data for TV ratings than is currently available from commercial surveys, which the bill’s author claims are sometimes “severely distorted” to give channels greater prestige.
But the Forum of Israeli Channels representing Israel’s three largest broadcasters, and the Israeli Audience Research Board representing an array of other broadcasters, denounced the bill, saying it would limit press freedom; harm the ability of advertisers to make decisions “based on factual data”; lead to political intervention in broadcasting; and result in the “channelling of private advertising funds to political needs.”
Their criticisms were centered on the fact that advertisers pay broadcasters for commercials in accordance with their viewer ratings. The mainstream broadcasters are ostensibly concerned that the government-designated agency for determining viewer ratings could slant the data toward pro-government outlets, thereby unjustifiably increasing their income and influence.
The Israeli Audience Research Board also insisted that in no other Western country does the government control the measurement and publication of viewing data.
Both organizations also insisted that the current commercial methods for determining ratings are modernm professional and in line with standards in other Western countries.
In her position paper, Baharav-Miara largely concurred with the networks, writing that the legislation would create “political interference” in the broadcast market.
The bill, the attorney general said, “cause a serious and disproportionate violation of the right to privacy, and thereby the right to freedom of expression and the press, a violation resulting from political, governmental involvement in the broadcasting market, and therefore there is a constitutional impediment to its promotion.”
But she also went further, asserting that the idea of the government systematically collecting viewer data — including key details of the viewer’s identity as provided for in the bill — without viewers’ authorization would severely harm the right to privacy.
“The mere coercive collection of information from the general public, without express consent being given by each person about whom information is collected, and the systematic transfer of it to government authorities — the broadcasting regulators and the Communications Ministry — amounts to a serious violation of the constitutional right to privacy,” writes the attorney general.
She added that the government’s collection this data would harm the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press, as “exposing the content a viewer watches to an external, political governmental body” would likely have a “chilling affect” on the content that viewers consume.
Karhi said in response that Baharav-Miara’s position paper was “extraneous” since the legislation would undergo “the necessary adjustments” so that it “not harm the privacy of users,” but did not detail what changes would be made.
In a further snipe at the attorney general, he said that since the legislation was being advanced as a private members bill “her opinion is as important as garlic peel,” adding that the law would be legislated “in accordance with principles that we determine.”
Private members bills, unlike government bills, do not need approval from the Attorney General’s Office to advance through the legislative process.
The Israeli Audience Research Board lambasted the bill, describing it as “unprecedented in its scope of political intervention, its attempt to control the data and its lack of professional and relevant connection to the field of television viewing measurement.”
And the Forum of Israeli Channels was similarly critical, accusing the government of trying to conduct a political takeover of the free media in Israel.
“Instead of focusing on the immense challenges Israel faces in its national security, economy, and society, the government has chosen to continue its obsessive preoccupation with its political conquest of the Israeli media, the oppression of freedom of the press, the silencing of criticism and now the control of Israeli viewing data and use of this data and advertisers’ money as political tools,” the organization said.
The Forum of Israeli Channels represents the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation KAN, Keshet 12 and Reshet 13, the major Israeli broadcasters.
Israeli Audience Research Board is representing those broadcasters as well, along with smaller outfits and the Israeli Advertising Association and the Israeli Marketing Association.
