Israel's
Media Watch
update report # 42
May 7, 2000
Contents:
- IMW News
- Words of Wisdom
- Media News (Israel and Other)
- At Tel Aviv University: one
of the most bitter attacks on the Jewish religion in Israel .
But first, a reminder. Many of our
supporters have not as yet renewed
their annual membership subscriptions.
IMW exists on the donations of the public. Our ability to
continue to
serve Israel's media consumers is severely impaired. We
would appreciate
receiving your recognition of our work on your behalf.
IMW News
1. IMW's Chairman Prof. Eli Pollak and Director Yisrael Medad met
with
Cabinet Secretary Yitzhak Hertzog and discussed issues relating
to the
content and character of TV programs.
Hertzog promised to aid passage of a bill which has been tabled
in the
Knesset and sets forth code guidelines for TV film ratings.
The bill, first
proposed by MK Chanan Porat and has been adopted by MK Zvulon
Orlev,
and initiated by IMW, will obligate the networks to publish in
the newspapers
and on the films themselves.
The ratings system is designed to give parents more information
about the content
and age-appropriateness of TV shows. The Content Labels
usually have one
or more letters added to let parents know when a show contains
higher levels
of violence, sex, adult language or suggestive dialogue.
2.
IMW complaints concerning ethics violations this week included
one against
Chaim Yavin ("Mr. Television"). Anchorman for the
Channel One news,
Yavin closed off a report on development town mayors calling on
Education
Minister Yossi Sarid to remain at his job with the words: "Yossi,
remain",
as if Yavin was joining the call.
Another complaint went to the Second Radio & Television
Authority (SRATA)
which hosted the first TV program of Yossi Sias, a popular radio
talk show host.
His guest included Zehava Benn, a singer, who was questioned
about her divorce; a
couple where the husband is a pornographic film producer and a
second couple who met and
married after their respective spouses had committed adultery
with each other. The
complaint noted that the air time for the show was at three o'clock
in the afternnon,
hardly the proper time for such content.
3.
IMW Review Committee member Professor Elisha Babad participated
in the
meeting of the Public Council of SRATA this past week which
discussed issues
such as extending the concession of Radio "Kol Chai" to
Jerusalem which he
opposed as it was not in accordance with the legal framework of
SRATA.
4.
IMW received a reply from IBA Ombudsman Amos Goren to
ourcomplaint against
Aryeh Golan. Golan, we noted, expressed his personal
opinion, when using the term
"brave decision" to describe Ehud Barak's move to
withdraw from Lebanon.
While Goren wrote that although he wasn't positive that Golan had
"personal
intentions", nevertheless, it would have been better had
Golan refrained from using it.
5.
In another matter, in which we raised questions as to who was
permitted to
serve as a guest interviewer on the "Seven and a Half"
news program, the
IBA's Goren wrote us that the supervisory bodies of Channel One
TV
had intervened to assure proper balance and variety in the
persons invited.
Goren wrote us that besides a several exceptions, all
interviewers had
to be media people with proper press capabilites.
Media News from Israel
1.
Arutz 7 News, May 3, 2000
RELIGION-BASHING AT TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
Tel Aviv University announced that the editor of the Student
Council
newspaper apologizes for what many consider to be "one of the most bitter
attacks on the Jewish religion to have appeared in Israel in
recent years."
Yesterday's edition of the paper carried an unsigned
article that read, in
part, as follows: "Citizen, religion is your enemy, and it
is the
obligation of every Israeli to fight it. Every person whose
heart is not
stone must go to the religious people and secularize them...
When a person
chooses to believe these lies [of religion], he throws the
essence of his
humanity into the garbage... Some will say that it makes
people feel good;
many of those who joined the Nazi movement also felt uplifted and
joyous..."
University Student Union head Guy Kellner also apologized on air
today and
told Arutz-7 that he had not read the article prior to its
publication, but
was taken aback by its extremism, and especially its equating
religious
with Nazi fervor. "If I had read it, I would have
removed that reference,"
Kellner said. He added that the paper does not represent
the view of the
Student Union: "It is a purely autonomous publication
that permits
students to air their views on a variety of current topics."
MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party), Chairman of the
Knesset
Education Committee, expressed revulsion at the article, and said
that he
will take "legal and other measures to totally uproot
phenomena of this
sort." The NRP has called upon the President of Tel
Aviv University to
expel the article's author, Adam Hofri and to fire the editor of
the
Student Union newspaper in which the article was featured.
Hatzofeh editor Gonen Ginat - whose paper broke the story this
morning -
welcomed the apologies but added: "It is important to note
that the article
was not written in a vacuum. The atmosphere of late at Tel
Aviv University
- with its clear anti-religious sentiments - provided
fertile ground for
the publishing of this kind of piece. I can remember the
slanderous
responses and uproar not long ago when it was announced that a
synagogue
would be built on the campus! The university is proud of
its theatre
company, which is presenting a drama on 'religious people who
leave the
fold.' Who can ignore the university's outcry against the
conclusions of
the Tal Commission that sought a compromise on the issue of
yeshiva
students and military service? Many at the university
declared that the
committee came to the conclusions it did because 'it was made up
mostly of
religious people.' This is simply incorrect, but ignorance
has always been
an inseparable part of prejudice..." Ginat concluded:
"The section that
bothered me most was not that which equated religious observance
with
Nazism, but rather the declaration that one who adopts religious
belief has
'thrown the essence of his humanity into the garbage, or
forfeited his
identity as a human being. This comment can have very far-reaching
implications...'"
Media News from Abroad:
1.
Group Names Enemies of Press Freedom
By THE NEW YORK TIMES May 3, 2000
President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia; Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, the
supreme leader of Iran; and Foday Sankoh, the Sierra Leone rebel
leader,
are among this year's "Top 10 Enemies of the Press,"
according to the
Committee to Protect Journalists.
In a statement released yesterday, the New York-based watchdog
group said
Mr. Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front rebels executed at least
eight
journalists in 1999.
Ayatollah Khamenei has fostered a climate against reform that has
led to
the closings of 16 publications in Iran in the last week, and
President
Milosevic, who is making his second appearance on the list, has
continued a
concerted campaign to destroy his country's independent media,
the
statement said.
The committee's list also includes President Nursultan Nazarbayev
of
Kazakhstan and President Jos? Eduardo dos Santos of Angola. Those
listed
for the second time are President Alberto Fujimori of Peru and
Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, while President Zine el
Abdine Ben
Ali of Tunisia made his third appearance. President Jiang Zemin
of China
appears for the fourth time, and President Fidel Castro of Cuba
makes his
sixth appearance. Mr. Castro has appeared on every list
since it was
introduced in 1995.
2.
Hearst Corp. suspends Examiner publisher after controversial
testimony
May 2, 2000
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Hearst Corp. replaced the San Francisco
Examiner's publisher Tuesday, the day after he testified that he
offered
Mayor Willie Brown favorable editorials in exchange for the mayor's
support
of Hearst's purchase of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Hearst said Timothy White, editor and publisher of the Examiner
since
January 1999, would take "an indefinite leave of absence"
beginning
immediately. His duties will be handled by George Irish,
president of
Hearst Newspapers, the company said.
White did not return a phone message left at his office.
Hearst, whose $660 million purchase of the Chronicle is being
held up by a
federal antitrust trial, had issued a series of statements
contending the
conversation White described on the witness stand Monday never
happened --
or, if it did happen, violated company policy.
White testified Monday that he met with Brown on August 30. The
mayor, then
in the middle of a re-election campaign in which Reilly was
running against
him, had often complained about Examiner coverage in the past and
had
opposed the Chronicle sale, announced August 6.
White said he offered Brown "more favorable treatment"
in the Examiner's
editorial pages if he supported the sale.
In an e-mail sent afterward to the head of Hearst's newspaper
division,
read in court, White said, "I asked Willie how I was going
to justify to my
superiors in New York wanting to support him and cooperate with
him when he
was seeming to go out of his way to make our lives difficult."
In the months after the August 30 lunch meeting, Brown worked
behind the
scenes to support the Examiner sale to the Fang family, which
publishes the
local free-distribution Independent and Asian Week papers.
Brown declined comment Tuesday through spokeswoman Kandace Bender.
Hours after White's testimony, Hearst issued a statement saying,
"It is not
now -- nor has it ever been -- a policy of the San Francisco
Examiner to
trade favorable editorial coverage for any gains, including
political
influence."
The company quoted White as saying, "I was tired and
confused by the
question. The implication of my answer that the pages of The
Examiner can
be influenced, under any circumstances, is absurd."
In another statement Tuesday, Hearst said that "if such a
conversation
occurred, it was a serious breach of Hearst's policy."
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press
3.
Take the challenge of TV-Free America and take a walk, visit the
library,
plant a garden, build a birdhouse, volunteer...just turn off your
TV.
Families across
America are turning off their boob tubes, at least during the
sixth annual
National TV-Turnoff Week 2000, April 24 to 30. Read the research
studies that show how TV makes us fatter, less active, and makes
our kids more violent and study less. If you're finally fed up
and
can't take it anymore, then tune out and turn off! As Surgeon
General
David Satcher says: "We have the most sedentary generation
of young
people in American history. Reducing the amount of TV our
children watch is
one way to encourage more healthful activity." Now if you
could just
find that remote!
http://www.briefme.com/a/article.cgi?id=18392&uid=84925
4.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Communications Commission
determined
Wednesday that Time Warner violated a communications law when it
dropped ABC stations from its cable systems in some markets
earlier
this week. Acting on a petition filed by ABC Monday, the
commission
found Time Warner breached a provision that prohibits cable
companies
from deleting local signals during the period known as "sweeps."
The
sweeps, a period when ratings are used to set local advertising
rates, began Thursday and runs until May 24. The commission's
decision comes a day after the two companies called a cease-fire
and
set a new July 15 deadline for their negotiations over
compensation
for cable channels. FCC officials said enforcement actions would
be
considered separately. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2566238911-56f
5.
Rabbi's lawyer seeks reporter notes
TRENTON, N.J. (AP, May 4) - Lawyers for a rabbi accused of
arranging his
wife's slaying subpoenaed the notes Wednesday of a newspaper
reporter
who said she witnessed the confession of the middleman in the
killing. Lawyer Dennis Wixted said he wants all notes and records
kept by Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Nancy Phillips during
interviews over the years about the 1994 killing. Phillips "crossed
the line" when she talked to Leonard Jenoff and allowed the
prosecutor and a homicide investigator to join the conversation
at a
diner, Wixted said. The newspaper plans to fight the subpoena,
said
Phillip Dixon, a deputy managing editor. Any additional
information
that Phillips has about the case will be reported in the paper,
Dixon
said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2566238487-0ff
Words of Wisdom:
For a decade, ambitious titans assured us that
media mergers were the wave of the future. We
were told that only by concentrating
communications in multinational behemoths could
U.S. companies compete with monopolies in Europe
and Asia. Size guaranteed efficiency and the
consumer could look forward to lower cost and
better service.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/opinion/safire/050400safi.html
William Safire, May 4, 2000
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