Struggle Over Fate of Israeli Public Broadcaster Sparks Uproar

(Bloomberg) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is backtracking on his plan to open a new public broadcaster, setting up a showdown with his finance minister and drawing accusations that he's trying to trample a free press. 

Netanyahu wants to scrap his previous government's 2014 decision to replace the outdated Israel Broadcasting Authority, after millions of dollars were spent preparing its successor to go on air. While the prime minister says rehabilitating the old authority would save money, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon has threatened to block what he calls a wasteful move. Israel's president, meanwhile, sounded an alarm against government meddling in the media.

“Netanyahu found out that this reform is actually too good, that the new body is professional, of a diverse background and not totally loyal to him,” said Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, head of media reform at the Israel Democracy Institute research center. “Netanyahu is not saying what his Culture Minister Miri Regev said out loud: ‘If we have no control, why should we give it money?'”

The prime minister accuses the media of being inordinately critical of him and has sparred with news outlets, to the point of filing and withdrawing lawsuits against unflattering reports. He kept the Communications Ministry portfolio for himself in his latest government, and critics say he's used that position to try to stifle opposing views and promote his own. A powerful backer, U.S. casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, already finances a free handout, Israel Hayom, that's sympathetic to the government.

Winter Session

That the future of a state broadcasting authority could become a focal point of the opening day of parliament's winter session points to the passions the issue has aroused.

“I will rehabilitate the Broadcasting Authority and do it in a fiscally responsible way,” Netanyahu told lawmakers on Monday.

Kahlon, who heads the second-largest party in the coalition, said he would veto any proposal to shutter the new authority. The new broadcaster would cost the government about 400 million shekels ($105 million) less to run a year than the existing broadcaster, he said. What's more, the ministry expected to receive 1.7 billion shekels from the sale of the land on which the old broadcaster sits, he added.

“Personally, I don't think I can throw this money away and throw around millions,” he said at a meeting of his Kulanu party before the parliament session. “If I need to veto it then I will veto it.”

Troubled Democracies

President Reuven Rivlin saw more than money at stake in a speech that dwelt on the challenges to democracy in the Western world.

“Those in favor of a public broadcasting authority cannot turn it into a trumpet of the commissars,” Rivlin said, without naming names. “Those who want a public broadcasting authority must ensure that it is unbiased across the party divides.”

A spokesman for Netanyahu didn't respond to efforts to contact him. David Bitan, chairman of Netanyahu's Likud party and an outspoken advocate of scrapping the new broadcaster, said most journalists there want to impose a left-wing agenda.

“I don't think public broadcasting should be turned over to people who genuinely hate the prime minister and the Likud,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Wainer in Tel Aviv at dwainer3@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Kevin Costelloe