AG’s office to cabinet secretary: Broadcast media reform bill cannot be advanced yet

The Attorney General’s Office tells Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs that a far-reaching and controversial broadcast media reform bill authored by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi cannot be advanced in the Knesset before key procedural steps in the legal process of approving the draft bill are completed.

Professionals in the Communications Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office were preparing the law for advancement when Karhi halted the work and submitted the bill to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in May for its approval for passage to the Knesset. The Attorney General’s Office told Karhi at the time that the legislation would undermine freedom of the press and was therefore unconstitutional, but the committee gave its backing to the bill regardless.

Fuchs then requested that the legislation be published in the state gazette as is necessary for a government bill before advancing to the Knesset.

The Attorney General’s Office tells Fuchs, however, that the bill cannot be published in the gazette or be advanced for its first reading in Knesset until consultations with the relevant authorities and legal advisers are conducted.