Shlomo Karai on Channel 14 (courtesy of Channel 14)
Communications Minister Shlomo Karai this evening detailed the expected schedule for the privatization of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation.
In an interview for News 12's "Meet the Press" with Amit Segal and Ben Caspit, Karai said that he aims for "the corporation's budget to be reduced by hundreds of millions, more than half of its budget, already in the upcoming Settlements Law."
Karai repeated his statements from the last few days in a series of interviews he gave, about his desire to abolish regulation, lower barriers and "increase competition", while adding: "I intend to remove the partitions between the public and the media. Today, reporters serve their audience. In my vision, reporters will serve the The public.
"When my reform is completed in Gaza, channels will not be able to broadcast intellectual disgrace like Ofira and Barco without it hurting their pockets - by the public, not by the regulator."
Ofira and Barko are considered to be particularly hated among the so-called "Balfour" (prime minister's close entourage), while on the other hand, the pair of presenters themselves attack them a lot in the studio.
Ophira and Barko (photo: screenshot, from "Opira and Barko" Keshet 12)
Karai also spoke about the removal of barriers that would allow additional licenses to be granted to the regional radio stations, this against the background of estimates that behind the move there is an intention to allow the radio station associated with the Prime Minister "Gali Israel" to increase its power.
Last week Karai also spoke about promoting an alternative to the rating committee in which all the commercial channels participate, this against the background, as mentioned, of historical claims by Khan 11 and Channel 14 about distortion in the measurement of data, which results from the ever-increasing consumption of content on the Internet.
In this process, another interest of Channel 14, which less than a year ago demanded from the Competition Authority to examine whether Keshet and Reshet "abuse their position in the advertising market".
As part of that demand, the channel requested that the rating committee be supervised by the state. However, the channel has since signed a cooperation agreement with the rating committee and has returned to publishing its data.
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Karai spoke about closing the corporation, the audience erupted: "There is no democracy without public broadcasting"
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"Krei has declared war on public broadcasting in Israel"
"Public broadcasting in a democratic society enables high-quality broadcasts with social and cultural value, which do not depend on those with money and interests and on commercial considerations only"
The journalists' organization, which represents the employees of the Broadcasting Corporation, responded to the words: "Minister Karai's statement that he intends to cut the budget of the Public Broadcasting Corporation by hundreds of millions is a declaration of war on public broadcasting. Public broadcasting in a democratic society enables high-quality broadcasts of social and cultural value, which do not depend on the wealthy and stakeholders and for commercial considerations only.
"We strongly oppose any attempt to harm public broadcasting in general and the Public Broadcasting Corporation in particular. In just a few years, the Broadcasting Corporation has become a standard symbol of an outstanding public service that includes technological innovation, quality content, local productions, an influential independent news division, and all on the basis of impeccable professional work compromises by the hundreds of employees of the corporation. Therefore, all talk of closing or privatizing the broadcasting corporation is nothing but an attempt to threaten the corporation's journalists and discourage them from doing their jobs faithfully, while harming the livelihood of hundreds of families. We call for an end to the attempts at intimidation and to let the corporation's employees continue to carry out the The excellent work they do."
The Jerusalem Journalists' Association responded: "Minister Karai's declaration of war on the Fourth Estate, the media, and in particular on public broadcasting, came in a coordinated and parallel move to another coup by the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin against the judiciary. This is the salami method of dismantling Israeli democracy, a move against which thousands of citizens are protesting tonight It
was also reported that "the Jerusalem Association of Journalists will fight together with the corporation and its hundreds of unionized members with the intention of crushing public broadcasting.
While Minister Karai comes up with a list of media outlets he plans to shut down, while strangling the Israel Broadcasting Corporation, President Biden increases the public broadcasting budget.
Netanyahu and Korei would do well to learn from the leaders of other democratic countries who cultivate press freedom and do not see it as a threat."
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