Erdan reportedly targeted by Walla as part of deal with Netanyahu

25 November 2018, 9:23 pm

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The Walla news site reportedly took an editorial line attacking Likud minister Gilad Erdan as part of a deal in which site owner Shaul Elovich gave Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu positive coverage, in return for advancing regulatory decisions that benefited his telecommunications firm, Bezeq.

Former Walla editors tell Channel 10’s HaMakor investigative news program that in addition to skewing covering in favor of Netanyahu, they were also instructed to run attack stories against his rivals, including Erdan, according to an exerpt from the full episode, which will be aired tomorrow.

The episode features numerous interviews with Walla employees, as well as Erdan himself.

Netanyahu served as communications minister from November 2014 to February 2017. During that time, Walla’s coverage notably changed to favor the Netanyahu family, and Bezeq was given permission, among other things, to buy the satellite cable provider Yes, overriding antitrust issues, and to renege on its commitment to lease out its infrastructure to telecom competitors so they could provide competing fixed line and internet services.