In court, Netanyahu says he doesn’t want ‘control’ of media, but more diversity of opinion

Speaking on the stand at his criminal corruption trial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies trying to control media outlets, but claims there is a need for more balance in the industry.

“Israel used to be freer in terms of opinions in the early years of the state,” says Netanyahu in testimony at the Tel Aviv District Court. “Gradually, the diversity in opinions was reduced, until most editors and journalists came from the left-wing camp and shared left-wing opinions.”

Two of the corruption cases against Netanyahu accuse him of improperly using his position to gave positive media coverage: Case 2000, in which he is accused of attempting to reach an agreement with the publisher of the Yedioth Aharonot newspaper to provide more positive coverage in exchange for legislation weakening its key rival, Israel Hayom; and Case 4000, in which he is accused of authorizing regulatory decisions that financially benefited Bezeq telecommunications giant shareholder Shaul Elovitch in exchange for favorable media coverage from the Walla news site, which Elovitch also owned.

Netanyahu says he believes in a “free market for opinions,” and that while “2/3 of the Jewish Israeli public defines itself as right wing… 90% of the media is left wing.”

“Until recently Israel had very monolithic media,” Netanyahu claims. “We don’t want to take control of the media, we want to diversify the media. The most important thing is to add more TV stations that aren’t controlled by one camp, that’s what is essential.”

The prime minister says he had conversations over the years with many different figures across Israeli media, “including Shaul Elovitch,” about Israeli media and the diversity of opinions.