Yesterday (Sunday) the ministerial legislation committee gave its approval to the bill sponsored by Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi to reform broadcasting regulation in Israel. The approval was contrary to the stance of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who severely criticized the bill and the political involvement that it allows in the media.
In an opinion submitted by Deputy Attorney General (Economic Law) Adv. Meir Levin to Minister of Justice Yariv Levin in advance of the discussion in the ministerial legislation committee, he writes that the bill includes provisions “that allow political interference” and increase the risk of political involvement in broadcasting entities.
The opinion also states that Karhi’s bill creates a risk of “commercial and political interference in news broadcasts and the potential for a takeover by powerful commercial interests of several broadcasting platforms involving cross-holdings in such a way as to reduce the range of opinions.”
The Attorney General’s Office warns that “if the bill is advanced in its current format there is a real fear that severe damage will be caused to the proper functioning of the free media in Israel and to the ability of broadcasting bodies to fulfil their role in a democratic society, and also a real fear of severe harm to freedom of expression and freedom of the press, which are an inseparable part of the democratic character of the State of Israel.”
The main pillar of the bill sponsored by Karhi is the formation of a new regulator, the Broadcasting Authority. This body is meant to replace the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council and the Second Authority for Television and Radio. The bill contains new regulations on cross-ownership and acquisitions in the broadcasting market.
Political control
Adv. Meir Levin states in his letter that the bill was submitted to the ministerial legislation committee before completion of the professional work on it, in which the Attorney General’s Office has played an important role for a long time. “Some of the arrangements that currently appear are not drafted in a complete way, and lack important and vital elements,” Levin wrote.
The letter severely criticizes the political control that Karhi seeks to introduce into the new Broadcasting Authority. The original professional model that was formulated stipulated that four of the seven members of the Authority’s board should be representatives of the public, selected in accordance with their qualifications by a search committee, and that the Authority would function as an independent body unconnected with the government. Under Karhi’s proposal, the minister of communications will be involved in the process.
“The Broadcasting Authority being formed is a material and fundamental condition for the constitutionality of the entire arrangement. Therefore, deviation from the principles of the proposed model and its replacement with arrangements that, directly or indirectly, will allow political involvement and influence in the appointment of members of the board and its conduct, undermine the legal basis of the entire arrangement,” Meir Levin wrote.
Levin levels further criticism of the abolition that Karhi is promoting of the separation between the commercial considerations of the broadcasting channels and the independent editorial considerations of news broadcasts. Levin writes that in Karhi’s bill “there is no stipulation of even minimal guarantees to ensure the trustworthiness and professionalism of the news, the independence of these bodies, and their detachment from commercial or political interests.”
The letter states that, under the bill, there will no longer be an obligation of any kind separation between a broadcaster’s business activity and news activity, there will be no requirement to appoint a chief editor or someone with relative independence within the news team, and there will be no strict restrictions on advertising and marketing during news broadcasts.
The Attorney General’s Office also comes out against the moves promoted by Karhi to ease control of cross holdings in the media market. Levin writes that the arrangements in that respect that the minister of communications included in the bill “were formulated hastily”, and are liable to lead to a shrinking of the media market and to harm the public interest.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 19, 2025.
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