Lawmakers give initial go-ahead to bill privatizing public broadcaster

A bill that would privatize the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation passes a preliminary reading in the Knesset 49-46.

The bill, sponsored by Likud MK Tally Gotliv, would require the government to issue a tender for the purchase of the television and radio networks controlled by the Broadcasting Corp., which operates the Kan public broadcaster and Reshet Bet radio, among others.

According to the proposed legislation, if a buyer cannot be found in two years, the broadcaster will be shuttered completely and its intellectual property will revert to the government.

“The [Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation] provides a service to the public, at the public’s expense, without asking the public whether they want it or not,” says Gotliv.

Communications Minister Shlomi Karhi presents the bill’s advancement as a boon for economic liberalization, stating that “there is no need for the public to finance public broadcasting. There are enough news channels in the private market, all of which have higher ratings than public broadcasting.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid attacks the legislation as “an attack on Israeli democracy” and freedom of expression.

The government, he says, “decided to do what dark regimes do – first crush the free media and then go and deal with everything else.”

In a statement, the Foreign Press Association says the bill, and separate legislation targeting the liberal Haaretz daily, “appear vindictive and politically motivated.”

The bill has also been criticized by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.