Rivlin launches vehement defense of journalism amid attacks on media

President Reuven Rivlin launches a vehement defense of journalism amid ongoing attacks​ on the Israeli media by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies.

Speaking at the first assembly of the Israel Press Council, Rivlin says that “it is possible and ​appropriate to criticize the media,” but that “we must not silence it and the the dialogue that it creates, even when is critical of us, whether on the left or right.”

Battling year-long investigations into alleged corruption, some that have been sparked by reports in the media of his alleged misconduct, Netanyahu has labeled negative reporting of him as “fake news” and said that the media is engaged in “an obsessive witch hunt against me and my family with the goal of achieving a coup against the government.”

Without naming Netanyahu, Rivlin slams such attacks as an attack on democracy.

“This is not an easy time to be part of the global guild of journalists. Journalists, journalism and news outlets are under attack. They are being accused of creating ‘fake news,’ or of biased reporting and a lack of diversity​,” he says scornfully.

Noting that his two childhood hero​e​s -​-​ Ze’ev Jabotinsky​, the pre-state founder of Revisionist Zionism,​ and Superman​ — ​were both journalists, Rivlin says that​ journalists today must strive to fulfill expectations as a principled professions, in order to act as gatekeepers of Israeli democracy.

“​It is important to remember that journalism and the media are a necessary tenet of our democracy and specifically because of that, there is an expectation from journalists to be supermen — upstanding, professional, trustworthy, dedicated,” ​he concludes.

— Raoul Wootliff