MKs advance controversial bill to privatize or shutter Kan public broadcaster
Foreign Press Association condemns ‘vindictive and politically motivated’ attacks on media, warns that legislation could ‘undermine democratic values’
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"
A controversial bill mandating the privatization of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation within two years, and threatening its ultimate closure should a buyer not be found, passed a preliminary reading 49-46 in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.
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 Corporation, which operates Kan television and radio, among other platforms.
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.
“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,” Gotliv, who has previously argued that the bill would “increase competition” in the media market, declared on Wednesday evening.
Communications Minister Shlomi Karhi also presented the bill’s advancement as a boon for economic liberalization, insisting that there was “no need for the public to finance public broadcasting” because “there are enough news channels in the private market, all of which have higher ratings than public broadcasting.”
Despite Gotliv and Karhi’s assurances, the bill met sharp pushback in the Knesset, with Opposition leader Yair Lapid assailing it as “an attack on Israeli democracy” and freedom of expression, a sentiment shared by the Foreign Press Association.
The government “decided to do what dark regimes do — first crush the free media and then go and deal with everything else,” Lapid warned.
The FPA said that after shutting down the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network’s operations in Israel, the government was now targeting Israeli outlets in a way that appears “vindictive and politically motivated.” It also cited the cabinet’s recent call to boycott the Haaretz daily.
“The FPA is deeply concerned and urges reconsideration, warning these steps undermine democratic values,” it said.
The bill also drew criticism from the Union of Journalists in Israel, which earlier this week accused the government of “weakening public broadcasting and restricting press freedom”; as well as the Attorney General’s Office, which argued on Sunday that it sent a “clear and grave” message that “criticism of the government or broadcast of content that is not favorable to the government may lead to measures against the media.”
Wednesday’s vote comes less than a month after the Ministerial Committee on Legislation gave its backing to a bill granting the government increased control over the IPBC’s budget, generating concern over its continued independence.
The twin bills dealing with the IPBC are being advanced at the same time as the coalition is promoting a third piece of legislation aimed at granting the government oversight of television ratings data.
The ratings bill, which passed a preliminary reading 53-49 in the Knesset plenum late last month, would allow the communications minister to assume control of the currently independent organization that supplies publishers with this information.
Taking office two years ago, Karhi vowed to make shutting down or sidelining the IPBC his first move. The minister has said repeatedly that he wants to create greater competition in the media landscape and distribute public funds to a variety of outlets instead of just one.
Wednesday’s vote also comes on the heels of a cabinet resolution calling on all government ministries and agencies to boycott Haaretz after its publisher Amos Schocken referred to Palestinian terrorists as “freedom fighters,” comments he later partially walked back.
