This week, the Knesset will pass an important law that has escaped public notice - the new Israel Broadcasting Authority law. Approval of this law will shake up Israeli television, not only by restructuring the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), but also by creating the conditions for the Ministry of Finance to sign the reform that will save it.
But with all the hopes that the bill is supposed to bring, it perpetuates IBA's great flaw. This is woven into the bill's articles that were written in the spirit of the present government, which took care to ensure that that politics will keep its grip on public broadcasting. Every attempt by the bill's authors, headed by MK Eitan Cabel (Labor) to free the IBA from the politicians vanished in the bill's final version.
Given that the debate on the bill lasted over a year, below is a reminder of some of the bill's articles, which the public has already forgotten about.
The new IBA council, which oversees the IBA's operations, will be appointed by the government. In other words, the minister in charge of the IBA will nominate six of its council members, who will be approved by the cabinet. The minister currently in charge of the IBA, by the way, is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The other six council members will be picked from a list of candidates submitted by a search committee to the responsible minister (Netanyahu) - and that same minister (Netanyahu) will appoint the search committee.
The search committee will recommend three persons to the cabinet, which will choose the IBA chairman. IBA's CEO, who functions as its editor-in-chief, will be appointed by the new and smaller IBA council, which submit its choice to the cabinet for approval. The CEO will be appointed for a four-year term, with an option to extend for another four-year term, subject to cabinet approval.
It does not end there. The new IBA law stipulates that any major change that the IBA council makes in the number of channels or radio stations will be approved by the responsible minister (Netanyahu).
The reform could make the IBA more financially efficient, and the TV screens would look lovely, if it meets its task to offer original productions. This would also ease the burden from the commercial stations, and it will greatly benefit producers and creators.
But the bill that will pass this week guarantees that the IBA will never truly fulfill its primary mission - to provide the public with reliable and credible service - service that is independent of political positions and the sway of the regime in power.
The IBA management that the cabinet will appoint will always give the government priority over the viewers. For years, the IBA has demonstrated how its political obligations set the tone in the character of the shows, the choice of interviewees, language, and administrative decisions.
This law is especially dangerous because it includes a purportedly social item - a reduction in the annual television fee. The cocktail prepared by the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee therefore includes a clear, but concealed, takeover of public broadcasting by the political echelon, while ostensibly giving the public the feeling that the IBA is healthy. The law also anesthetizes the public from its responsibility for public broadcasting by reducing its sensitivity to developments at the IBA.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 25, 2012
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