Ha'Aretz daily, Thursday, May, 27, 1999, Section D, Page 2,
a story by Orna Kazzin on public broadcasting personnel and their experience with pressure applied during the election campaign. 
IMW's explanations are placed in brackets [].

"...[Shelly] Yechimovicz [who hosts a popular political/
current affairs interview program on Kol Yisrael's
Station Two] notes that 'the Labour Party has perhaps a less
brutal style [of pressure] than that of the Likud, but
they are more demanding, for they come with a feeling of
'we're on the same side'. 
Everytime I broadcast something that caused them damage
or benefitted the Likud, the relationship to me was
as if to a traitor.  They passed along messages like
'Bibi and his staff thank you'.  Some of the politicians
seem not to really understand what the job of a
journalist is".

The Victim as the Guilty Party

This is how Aviv Lavie, the Ha'Aretz media
columnist, portrayed the behavior of the media
vis-a-vis Netanyahu in the weekend supplement
on May 28, 1999, p. 78:

"During the past three years, political reporters
and columnists found it difficult to write their
own opinion about the Prime Minister and his activities
as they are supposed to do and usually do.  The
antagonism Netanyahu caused, his unending 'crybabying',
the incitement [against the media], the fact that he
made everything personal, forced the journalists,
against their will, into a corner: at times they
attacked [him] with over-enthusiasm, at times attempted
to please him forcefully and find positive sides in his
behavior in order, as it were, to prove their
objectivity. 
The days of Netanyahu were bad days for
the media, because he succeeded to force it [the media]
to display its ugly sides; mostly it was too hostile or too
apologetic, rarely was it to the point; worse, from
too much of a desire to see Netanyahu go, here and there
it provided Barak with 'discounts', and this is a betrayal
of the profession, acting against the public trust".

Israel's Media Watch seeks to protect Israel's citizens from media personnel who would abuse their power to manipulate public opinion.

To our friends and supporters - we need responsible media consumers.
without a fair and ethical media, freedom and democracy comes under attack.
a biased, unbalanced and prejudicial media is a danger to democracy.

Help us assure that Israel's media uphold the highest standards of professional journalism practice.

Join & Support IMW's activities to assure fair, reliable and pluralistic
broadcasting on Israel's public electronic media.

Your contributions can be sent to:
POB 6023 Jerusalem 91060
Tel: 02-6236425  Fax: 02-6236426

Volunteers who can listen in to specific programs are also requested to contact us.

For further information:
E-mail: isrmedia@netvision.net.il
Web site: www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/2527