Israel's
Media Watch
update report # 38
April 4, 2000
Contents:
- IMW News
- Words of Wisdom
- Media News (Israel and Other)
IMW News:-
1. Membership Fees
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2. IBA Ombudsman Amos Goren congratulated IMW for bringing to
his attention the appearance of Prime Minister Barak in a public
service
commercial for the Mifal HaPayis (National Lottery). This
has never happened previously,
it was claimed.
Nevertheless, IMW wrote IBA Chairman Gil Samsonov demanding that
he issue a directive that no politician may appear in a public
service
commercial. This is exploiting a social and welfare slot for
purposes of
self-aggrandizement.
3. Following up on the "Pulsa D'Nura" ceremony, which
the police are
investigating as being staged:
Israel Segal, editor of the Mishal Hot program where it was
broadcast, was
interviewed by Avner Hochstein, in Yediot Ahronot's weekend
culture magazine,
"Seven Nights", page 5, March 31, 2000. He was
asked "did you not know that
people would press you about the Eyal swearing-in ceremony for
which you
were responsible would be brought up as it turned out to be faked?"
And his reply:
"First of all, I am not afraid of being pressed. I am
for once and for
all sick of this falsehood. The ceremony was indeed staged
but by the General Security
Service (Shabak), in other words by Avishai Raviv, not by the
correspondent
Eitan Oren".
IMW comment: Well, at least we're making progress.
Finally, Segal admits
that it was staged. Now we are closing in on exactly who
was responsible.
Media News in Israel
1.
WEDDING COMMERCIALS OFF THE AIR
Minister Chaim Ramon announced yesterday that the Israel
Broadcasting
Authority had decided to stop airing commercials on behalf of
Reform and
Conservative marriage ceremonies. Ramon said that the IBA had
reached the
conclusion that the commercials are misleading in that they imply
that the
ceremonies would be recognized by law, when in fact only the
Chief
Rabbinate of Israel is authorized to perform Jewish marriages.
- Arutz 7 News, April 3, 2000
2.
(An excerpt from a recent Ha'Aretz op-ed)
No muzzles for free speech
By Orit Shochat
March 31, 2000
MK Avigdor Lieberman will not be prosecuted for calling Brigadier
General
Moshe Mizrahi an "anti-Semite" and a "racist."
This is because the Knesset
House Committee on Tuesday decided not to lift his parliamentary
immunity -
and is to be commended for its decision.The attorney general shot
himself in
the foot by seeking to press charges against a person for cursing.
If he had
tried to indict Lieberman for threatening a police investigator,
he might
have won more sympathy.
- - - - -
This Mafia-style threat has nothing to do with freedom of speech.
Precisely
because Lieberman made the threat in private, over the telephone,
and
precisely because he is a powerful figure with the ability to
carry out
threats, the matter should be seen as extortion. It was an
attempt to
intimidate an investigator to get him off Lieberman's back.
The Knesset House Committee, in not being impressed - neither by
the threats,
nor by the insults - would seem to be making a protest against
the attorney
general, if not starting a rebellion.
In recent years, the police, the state prosecutor and the courts
have
permitted themselves to harass ordinary citizens - rabbis,
politicians,
public figures and journalists - interrogating them endlessly
about trivia.
Some breach of law can always be found if you want to drive
someone crazy.
Calling Mizrahi an anti-Semite is no more ground for police
interrogation
than calling him a fat slob or an idiot. Courts are not watchdogs
of civil
speech.
The attorney general must pay attention to the people's loss of
trust in the
legal system, and we are not talking just about Shas supporters
and friends
of Benjamin Netanyahu. When inquiry becomes a means of punishment,
and courts
are called upon to decide who insulted whom, rulings are made
that democracy
should be ashamed of.
- - - - -
In another miscarriage of justice this week, police picked up a
journalist
employed by the TV program "Hot Mishal" to investigate
whether he had staged,
or merely filmed, some voodoo-like nonsense putting a curse on
Pope John Paul
II.
Since when is it the business of the police to investigate such
matters?
Isn't the law cheapened by applying serious charges like "assisting
a
terrorist organization" or "violating religious
sensibilities" in cases of
such frivolity?
- - - - -
Offensive remarks and incitement should be allowed in any country
that
upholds freedom of expression. No government organ should have
the right to
decide what we are allowed and not allowed to say.
For one person, Shulamit Aloni calling Netanyahu "Mussolini"
could be
incitement to murder. For another, "Haman" is the
ultimate curse. After all,
both of them were hanged.
The attorney general rightly explained that if he did not
prosecute Rabbi
Yosef for incitement, he could not prosecute others in the future.
He should,
however, be reaching the opposite conclusion.
Lawmakers should strike from the books all offenses connected to
expressing
one's opinion - insulting a public servant, sedition, incitement,
offending
religious sensibilities, etc., so that no attorney general will
have to face
a dilemma.
- - - - -
Elyakim Rubinstein was very disappointed that Lieberman's
immunity was left
intact by the Knesset House Committee. "It's a problem when
politicians
intervene in semi-legal matters," he opined.
The same could be said of Rubinstein. It's a problem when legal
eagles think
they can intervene in free expression. We can thank the Knesset
House
Committee for putting a stop to it
http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/htmls/kat9_3.htm
2. For Your Information
The structure of the Second Television channel is based on three
concessionaires, Telad, Reshet and Keshet. By law, the
percentages
of ownership are limited. These are some of the details of
the investors:
a) Keshet: Gad Zeevi (28.7%);
Leumi & Partners (20%);
CocaCola (28.7%)
b) Reshet: Poalim Investors (27%);
Yediot Media (24%);
Elite (21%);
c) Telad: Daskash & PIEC (23%);
Shamrock (23%);
Maariv (18%).
According to a HaAretz newspaper report of April 2, 2000, the
profits of the Second TV channel are expected to drop by 45%
within
the first year of the operation of the Third TV channel.
Media News (Abroad)
Zealous Egyptian security men rendered hundreds of journalists
speechless yesterday when they confiscated all mobile telephones
from
reporters covering the start of the Africa-Europe summit in Cairo.
Journalists and many delegates to the summit were forced to hand
in
their mobile phones ''as a security measure'' at external
checkpoints
before entering the conference centre in the Cairo suburb of
Heliopolis.
An Egyptian official said the ban had been enforced after Israeli
agents
had used a booby-trapped mobile phone to blow up a wanted
Palestinian
bomb-maker in 1996. (London Times/Reuters)
Words of Wisdom
1. "We have been informed that Yair Stern, Channel One TV
director
for the past seven years, has been appointed by the
Communications Minister
to oversee the setting up of the Third TV channel. He will
be responsible for
the drawing up of the tenders, the selecting of the
commissionaires and
for their supervision...he will set it up and fashion it and fix
its image.
"Yair Stern. What exactly in his work at Channel One
impressed
the Minister so much? The varied and professional
programming schedule?
The abundance of original productions of high quality? The
rating? The
quality? The vision?
"Channel One these past years is a failure. It lacks
identity, it lacks
importance. Even without the Vardi Report, we know that
Stern bears no little
responsibility for this failure. He managed it, the channel
and the failure.
"What an enigmatic decision".
- Rogel Alpher, Ha'Aretz, April 2, 2000
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