Another issue that came up is the fear that the Ministry of Communications will use the time window until the appointment to try and influence him, however this turns out to be limited
News 12 CEO Avi Weiss is expected to continue in his position for another 5 years, according to conversations with senior officials at Beshet. News 12's board of directors is expected to meet in the coming weeks, and to approve his appointment. weeks ago in order to confirm the appointment and transfer it to the second authority.
Recently, the question arose as to whether Weiss would even want to extend his tenure, but now it appears that the answer to this is in the affirmative. Another issue that has arisen is the fear that the Communications Ministry will use the time window until the appointment to try and influence him, however This turns out to be limited: Weiss enjoys the support of a clear majority on the news board, and even if Prime Minister Netanyahu, through Communications Minister Shlomo Karai, was interested in harming the appointment by influencing the public representatives on the board - he would have encountered both a legal-technical problem and an absolute majority at the top of Keshet who supports the future his tenure
The board of directors of the news company consists of six shareholder representatives (Rainbow) and four public representatives on behalf of the Second Authority, one of whom serves as chairman. Only about two years ago, the authority appointed 3 new public representatives to News 12 - Esti Applebaum-Polani who served as an advisor to the Prime Minister, Gil Salomon, and Iris Payne.
So even if the government decided to try and influence through them - it would be very complex to replace them.
These sit next to the chairman Tami Rowe, who holds a "double vote". Replacing or appointing a CEO requires a majority of over 50% - that is, agreement with the public representatives.
Avi Weiss at Roni Daniel's funeral, Kiryat Shaul Cemetery (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Not exactly the common leftist
In recent years, it was Weiss who confirmed the presence of MK Beaz Bismuth, then as a journalist, in the Friday studio. Bismuth is considered the unofficial spokesperson of the Netanyahu family, and even became, among other things thanks to his public recognition in Beshet 12, a member of the Knesset
The concern arose, among other things, due to the clear line taken in recent months by News 12, led by Weiss, against the legal revolution led by the government.
News 12 consistently leads the viewing charts compared to its competitors (News 13, Channel 14 and here 11), by a large margin.
More than once the main edition of 12 is watched by more viewers than all its competitors combined.
This point certainly does not escape the notice of the politicians.
As you may recall, upon taking office, Communications Minister Karai already hinted that he would "make sure" that programs like "Ofira and Barco" - which is also opposed to the government - do not pay off financially, and there were those who saw this as a clear threat to current affairs news broadcasters as well.
At the same time, the coalition is making every effort these days to harm News 12 and 13, and they do not hide it.
This week, Prime Minister Netanyahu chose to be interviewed again on Channel 14 - the only Israeli channel he attends - and this also gave its signals in the channel's viewing figures, which within a few days became the second most watched edition in Israel. As I recall, in 2019, against the background of his struggle with the news company of the channel, the Prime Minister called on viewers not to watch Keshet broadcasts due to its partnership in the production of the series "The Boys" together with HBO. "I'm used to 'Keshet' blacking me out every day," he said. Since then, he decided to change his strategy and focus on cultivating the competitor Channel 14. Strategy Which, at least in the commercial sense, is successful, and manages to slightly damage News 12 as well.
However, it should be remembered that Weiss himself is not exactly the typical leftist either.
In recent years, it was Weiss who confirmed the presence of MK Beaz Bismuth, then as a journalist, in the Friday studio. Bismuth is considered the unofficial spokesman for the Netanyahu family, and even became, among other things thanks to his public recognition in Keshet 12, a member of the Knesset. Bismuth is joined by other examples of people Netanyahu who appeared frequently on the news programs.
In addition, according to the Prime Minister's diaries from 2016-2018 that were provided to "Haaretz" after a legal battle by the Success Association, Netanyahu met four times with the CEO of News 12. In addition, he also met his deputy Guy Soderi several times He has three meetings with the political commentator Amit Segal and two with the political commentator Dana Weiss. By the way Segal, his dominant presence on the News 12 screen also contributes to the positioning of Weiss as having a liberal-neutral view.
The strongest screen in Israel.
News 12 (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)
The threats to Keshet
As mentioned, even if Netanyahu, his son, or the Minister of Communications were interested in influencing the appointment of Weiss (the assumption is that they would have preferred Shlomov's people at the top of the company, as they did in the GLA), then their ability in the matter is limited. However, as he has already demonstrated in the corporation, Karai can try and threaten Keshet using a number of levers that touch the soft underbelly of the organization. According to a former senior official in the Second Authority, the government can take quite a few steps that can weaken Keshet. According to him, "For example, the government can decide that it wants to abolish the legal wall that exists between the news and the content - for example To the lawmaker that the CEO of the licensee should be the editor-in-chief. Today there is such a separation in the law. This thing could seriously harm the news company."
However, the senior official also believes that the government currently has no ability to strategically harm Israel.
In addition, Netanyahu has already proven that his doctrine of deregulation stops when it comes to the length of the news release.
We received an expression of this with the decision of the Second Authority several years ago to shorten the edition by half an hour (in two beats) - a shortening that was finally stopped with the rise of the Bennett-Lapid government.
The meaning of such a move is economic but reducing the ability of the news systems to criticize the government.
Additional levers of the government on the news companies can also be the continuation of the existing policy of weakening them under the packaging of "opening the market to competition", while granting preferential conditions to channels that work for the government (14), opening new competing companies (for example I24news), lowering the limit of 49 % for the ownership of Israeli media from abroad (which could allow Netanyahu to "import" owners on his behalf; the continuation of the policy of not taxing the international content giants that bite into the commercial channels - up to extreme moves with low probability such as defining Keshet as a monopoly.
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