From the Liveblog of
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Likud MK promotes bill to privatize Army Radio amid coalition push to shutter public broadcaster
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Amidst a coalition push to shutter Israel’s public broadcaster, Likud MK Nissim Vaturi is now promoting a new bill to privatize Army Radio, arguing that “that there is no need for a so-called military radio station, which is financed by the public, operates as a military unit and is staffed by soldiers.”
Vaturi’s bill, which was placed on the Knesset table earlier this week, would require the Second Authority for Television and Radio to carry out a tender for the sale of the network — along with affiliated network Galgalatz — to a private buyer.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi last year indicated that he intends to shut down the Second Authority as well.
In 2023, then defense minister Yoav Gallant decided not to shut down or privatize Army Radio despite several years of announcements by successive governments and the military that they intended to do so.
Army Radio — one of the most listened-to news stations in the country — is staffed by a mix of young soldiers and seasoned journalists. The bill would require IDF troops to halt their service at the station within two years.
The military’s operating and funding of a radio station with journalists responsible for investigating the IDF itself as well as politicians has long been considered anachronistic, expensive, and an ethical minefield.
While Hebrew media reported that the new bill was expected to be voted on by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation as early as Sunday, it does not currently appear on the high-level body’s agenda for next week.
Vaturi’s bill echoes the language of a similar piece of legislation that passed a preliminary reading 49-46 in the Knesset yesterday.
That 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 Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation within two years.
The proposed legislation, which has been condemned as a threat to press freedom by journalists and opposition lawmakers, stipulates that if a buyer cannot be found in two years, the broadcaster will be shuttered completely and its intellectual property will revert to the government.
On Sunday the coalition announced it would be boycotting the left-wing Haaretz daily.
