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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 442

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Advertisement

ExplainerCritics say moves would harm democracy, stifle free press


NOT ONLY EUROVISION WOULD GET THE AX UNDER GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO END PUBLIC
BROADCASTING


AS COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER KARHI RESURRECTS HIS PLAN TO SHUT DOWN KAN, INDUSTRY
EXPERTS WARN IT WILL END PARTICIPATION IN THE ANNUAL SONGFEST AND SLASH ORIGINAL
HEBREW CONTENT

By Amy Spiro
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Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel

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Eden Golan of Israel enters the arena during the flag parade before the Grand
Final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, May 11, 2024. (AP
Photo/Martin Meissner)
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For most Israelis, it would be nearly impossible to imagine a world in which the
Jewish state doesn’t compete in the annual Eurovision Song Contest. But if
recently revived legislation to shutter, sideline or drastically slash the
Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, or Kan, is passed in the Knesset,
legions of Israeli fans will soon be left bereft.

Since the day it was established, the Kan public broadcaster has come under
attack.

Successive lawmakers and ministers in right-wing governments have sought over
the past eight years to exert greater control over or shut down entirely the
Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, which operates several TV networks, a
number of radio stations and a sizable digital presence.




In recent weeks, as the coalition attempts to revive some of its contentious
prewar legislation, efforts to change the face of Kan as we know it have
returned to the forefront. Last month, the Knesset passed in a preliminary
reading 49-46 a bill mandating the network be either privatized or closed –
either of which would end public broadcasting in Israel.

At the same time, ministers also voted last month to advance legislation that
would give the government direct — instead of indirect — control over the IPBC’s
budget. Yet another item of legislation discussed this month would demand Kan
submit an annual report to the Knesset Economics Committee on its activities,
with its heads summoned to a hearing if the members have complaints about
content.

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The bills’ future remains uncertain, amid both coalition infighting and distaste
among some minority elements in the government for pursuing contentious
legislation during wartime. But Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi – who has
made his promise to close Kan a cornerstone of his plans since taking office two
years ago – has not backed down from his efforts to shut down the public
broadcaster entirely, which observers say would have a vast ripple effect on
Israeli media, film and society overall.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi discusses his moves to sideline the Kan
public broadcaster during a Knesset Economic Committee hearing on December 18,
2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

In addition to putting approximately 1,000 employees out of a job, industry
insiders say Karhi’s planned moves would harm democracy, stifle the free press
in Israel, end Israel’s membership in the European Broadcasting Union and
drastically shrink the creation of quality scripted original programming in
Hebrew.

“Israeli TV series [produced by Kan] bring us honor and prestige in the world,”
actress Naomi Levov, who has appeared in a number of Kan productions, told a
Knesset hearing on Wednesday discussing the slate of legislation. “Just now the
series ‘The Lesson’ was named [by the New York Times] as one of the best shows
in the world of 2024.”

Advertisement


Levov added that “for me, for us as a country it is a badge of honor for
creativity, for quality… this is a body that needs to be preserved.”

The effect on the news industry of shuttering Kan has been at the forefront of
discussions – with the Union of Journalists in Israel, the Foreign Press
Association, the Israel Communication Association and the Attorney General’s
Office all warning of harm to democracy, to freedom of the press, and to the
ability to produce news content free of commercial considerations.

Michal Gera Margaliot, director of the UJI, denounced the move as “part of a
wide, orchestrated plan to weaken and trample the free press in Israel” during a
Knesset hearing earlier this month. The Attorney General’s Office said the
legislation appears to be part of a government plan “to take control of the
media and the media market, in a way that contradicts basic democratic values,”
while the FPA said the activity appeared “vindictive and politically motivated.”


END OF THE EUROVISION ERA?

Netta Barzilai from Israel performs ‘Toy’ after winning the Eurovision song
contest in Lisbon, Portugal, May 12, 2018. (AP/Armando Franca)

The cultural impacts of recent measures are expected to be widely felt.

For starters, Israel needs to maintain an independent public broadcaster in
order to remain a member of the European Broadcasting Union, to which it has
belonged since 1957. Its standing in the EBU is what enables it to not just
broadcast, but also participate, in the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

In a letter this week to the Knesset Economics Committee ahead of its hearing,
EBU director Noel Curran warned that shutting or privatizing Kan “would not only
jeopardize Israel’s media landscape but could also have significant
ramifications for the country’s democratic foundations and international
reputation,” noting that every single country in Europe maintains a public
broadcaster.

Advertisement


Only countries with independent public broadcasters that air both current
affairs and entertainment programming are eligible to be members of the EBU, and
therefore to take part in the Eurovision. The kitschy music contest remains
popular in Israel and, in particular amid the sustained attacks on Israel’s
participation this year, many in the country viewed it as more important than
ever to participate and have their presence felt.

Kan also holds the exclusive rights, via the EBU, to broadcast the 2026 World
Cup; if the network is privatized or shut down, it is not clear how and if the
matches will air in Israel.

“Privatizing the IPBC would jeopardize this relationship and almost certainly
lead to Kan’s exclusion from our Union,” added Curran, “diminishing the nation’s
role in key events and restricting Israeli citizens access to such content.”

The IPBC was itself born of a lengthy political battle over public television in
Israel. It hit airwaves in 2017 after years of government efforts to alter the
operations of its predecessor, the Israel Broadcasting Authority.

Ever since it went on the air, right-wing lawmakers have sought greater control,
including a scuppered move to split the news division from the rest of the
content — which was shelved after Israel won the 2018 Eurovision and the EBU
made its position clear.

The broadcast studio of Kan, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, in
Jerusalem, January 31, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)


WHO NEEDS MORE REALITY TV?

The central bill under consideration by the Knesset stipulates that the
government will issue a tender seeking a buyer for Kan’s TV broadcasts, and that
if a buyer cannot be found, the broadcaster will be shuttered completely within
two years and its intellectual property will revert to the government. All of
IPBC’s radio networks will also be shut in two years under the terms of the
bill, except for the popular Reshet Bet, which will also be put up for sale.

Kan currently operates its main broadcast channel, Kan 11, as well as Makan 33
in Arabic, the Kan Educational channel with children’s programming, eight radio
stations, and its website and many digital platforms, including podcasts, apps
and online videos.

Karhi has long presented his goal as one of media diversification and a free
market, seeking to remove the government from any role in the industry. Speaking
in the hearing on Wednesday, the minister maintained that “the private market is
choked by too many series, and the public broadcaster is not public and at times
harmful.”

Advertisement


The minister said that his “vision” for public broadcasting is to continue
funding “original programming and Israeli content” without news or current
events, maintaining Kan’s Educational network as well as five of its radio
stations.

The main legislation seeking to shutter the network, however – which was
originally written by Karhi before he was a minister, but resubmitted by Likud
MK Tally Gotliv as a private member’s bill – seeks only to sell the entire
network to a commercial buyer. It was not immediately clear if Karhi intends to
submit a new bill for consideration or vastly rewrite the legislation that has
already passed an initial reading.

A still from the award-winning Kan series ‘The Lesson.’ (Courtesy Kan)

Industry insiders say that another fully commercialized network is unlikely to
be able to survive in the small Israeli market, and would never be able to
produce the level of original Hebrew programming that has emerged from Kan over
the years.

Channels 12 and 13, the two main commercial networks in Israel, largely offer a
slate of reality programming that is cheap to produce and brings in large
audiences, but offers little added value to a discerning audience, they say.

“There is nobody that will buy” Kan, according to a letter from the Film
Editor’s Guild submitted to the Knesset Committee. “Channel 13 has been on the
shelf for years… fighting for its survival and until recently there was nobody
who would take it.”

Even if a buyer could be found, the guild added, such a move “would turn it into
the same as all the other commercial networks – a channel of soft lifestyle and
current affairs programs based on paid product placements and offering the
public promotional content, little quality and a lot of TV shows purchased from
overseas.”

Were Kan to become a commercial network, “documentary programming that explores
Israeli history, dramas that bring the diversity of Israeli society to the
screen, and online content that expresses the voices of Israelis would be
replaced by purchased content in English that is disconnected from the history
and present lives of Israelis.”

Sam Sokol contributed to this report.



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