Israel's
Electronic broadcasting:
Reporting or Managing the News ?
8. Conclusion
Yisrael
Medad & Prof. Eli Pollak
Israels
Media Watch
"The Israel Broadcasting Authoritys obligations as a quasi-governmental institution include: objectivity, prevention of the politicization of the Authority, fairness, equality, no conflict of interests, and integrity in its decisions". Aaron Barak, President of Israels Supreme Court, Speech, May 13, 1996.
1.
Introduction - 2. Israels Broadcast Media - An
Overview
3. The
Ideological Identity and Credibility of Israels Media
4. The Media Treatment of the Oslo
Process
5. Rabins Assassination and the
following Week as Reflected in Channel Ones TV Broadcasts
6. The Israeli Broadcast Media During
the 1996 Election Campaign
7. Imbalance in the Israel Broadcasting
Authoritys Programs
8. Conclusion
9. References - Selected Bibliography of
Works Consulted - Notes
8.
Conclusion
The foregoing are representative examples from among hundreds of
complaints documented by Israels Media Watch and sent to
the IBAs
ombudsman, Viktor Grayevsky. In many cases, the responses
of elements
within the IBA have not denied the facts but rather disagreed
subjectively
as to the seriousness of the wrongdoing. Amnon Nadav,
director of Kol
Yisrael radio, who was interviewed by Shelly Yechimovitz on her
program on
March 3, 1998, contributed this insight into the problem existing
within
the IBA:
"Until the period of Mordechai Kirschenbaum, the demands
made of us
were maximalist in that we should uproot any expressions of
personal
opinion over the radio and television".
The cumulation of so many instances, throughout so many programs,
whether
in news programs, commentary or entertainment, point to a clear
trend of
imbalance in the broadcasts of the IBA in favor of what is termed
"left".
It was Allen K. Simpson, a sharp critic of the American media who
delineated the dangers in the lack of media ethics:
"The media have largely abandoned all basics of good
journalism in favor of
slanted, deceptive and ruthlessly prosecutorial reporting.
The public
always gets the story but seldom gets the truth".
Israels Attorney-General, Elyakim Rubinstein, is also aware
of the
shortcomings of the Israeli media. In a speech before the
delegates of the
Journalists Association, he spoke out about some of the stains
that should
be cleaned out, among them "superficial, tendentious and
unfair" (73)
The patterns of the Israeli media, essentially, are not too
different than
those of mass media in other countries in the fields of
non-ethical and
non-professional behavior. On the shelves of university
libraries can be
found many volumes all dealing with ethics in broadcasting and
other media
activity. The power concentrated in the media naturally
attracts criticism
and suspicion. It is no coincidence that every journalist
society has a
code of ethics. The ability of the media to influence
public opinion
demands effective supervisory institutions.
Israels problems with the media are of another, more acute,
nature. This
reality exists not only because of the severe and repetitive
character of
the infractions of the ethics code but because of the
nature of Israeli
society within a small geographical unit. This reality
allows for a
greater influence by the electronic media over the media
consumers.
Moreover, the media elite has succeeded in preventing the entry
of
journalists with different approaches and outlooks while
defending
themselves from any effective form of public supervision.
One such
defensive weapon has been the bandying about of such catch
phrases such as
"censorship",
"injury to democracy" and "interfering with the
right to freedom of
expression" against any and all criticism, all they while
exploiting their
position as media operatives.
The question which we asked ourselves at the outset of this
report was "is
the essence of Israels electronic broadcasting the
reporting of news or
news management?". Our findings, and more than the
data but the statements
of central media persons themselves, provide the answer:
Israels
electronic media sees its role not only to report to its viewers
and
listeners and to comment on the news, that is, to act as an
agent, but to
direct and manage the news so as to set the public agenda.
The news becomes an instrument to be manipulated. This is a
mobilized
media and in the end, one that presents a danger to
democracy.
As this report was
going to print, former
IBA Director-General, Mordechai
Kirschenbaum, made the following statement in an interview
published in the
Yediot Ahronot "Seven Days" Magazine, September 18,
1998, p. 78: "we (the
IBA) were politically stigmatized, naturally, from the moment
Netanyahu
came to power because Netanyahus right-wing cannot tolerate
free
television. From the moment different views are brought to
them, they
become deprived. They possess no tolerance. In all
that is connected to
incitement against democratic institutions, including the IBA,
and against
rivals from opposing political camps, Netanyahu exhibits fascist
tendencies, while, as it were, carrying high the flag of
liberalism"
IMW is a registered non-profit organization whose major aim is assuring the ethical and fair conduct of the Israeli media.
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