AG: Government decision to shutter Army Radio part of process to ‘restrict free press’

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara says the recent government decision to shutter Army Radio, a public broadcaster, is part of a process over the last three years by which the government has sought to “restrict the free press” and “exert pressure” over it. She says the High Court of Justice should therefore annul the move.

Writing in response to petitions to the court against the cabinet decision in December to shut Army Radio down, the attorney general says the move must be seen in the context of other steps taken by the current government in the media field, such as legislation to give the government control over the Kan public broadcaster’s budget and sell off its news division, as well as further legislation to give the government significant control over broadcast media, news websites and other press outlets.

“Seen together, this should raise serious concerns that the independent nature of central components of [the Israeli media market], with an emphasis on news broadcasts, is being altered, as is the ability of the Israeli media to fulfill its essential role in democracy as the ‘fourth estate,'” writes Baharav-Miara.

She also says the decision itself was flawed by “foundational defects,” including a failure to enact the closure via legislation, since previous legal determinations have stated that executive action to close the station would only be permissible if public broadcasting in Israel were “operative and stable.”

But Baharav-Miara stresses that the decision to close Army Radio comes at the same time as “extensive legislative moves” to change the regulation of news broadcasts on commercial channels, “in a manner that poses a real risk of seriously harming the independence of news outlets,” and which would expose them to significant economic and political pressures.

This would mean that legislation, not a cabinet decision, is required to close down Army Radio, the attorney general asserts.

She adds that even at the current stage, when Army Radio has not yet been fully shuttered, there are concerns that a “chilling effect on the media and its independence” is already being felt due to the steps the government is taking.

“In view of the various flaws in the government’s decision, the attorney general’s position is that the government’s decision cannot be left to stand, and is therefore null and void,” Baharav-Miara’s position paper states.

At the end of December, the High Court issued an interim injunction freezing the cabinet decision to close down Army Radio until the court reaches a final ruling on petitions against the move.