"I can understand the sentiment that exists. It's easiest for me to say everything is nonsense. And I say yes - the entire media needs to open the ranks a little more," according to Moav Vardi, referring to the threats of closure by Communications Minister Shlomo Karai (which for now have gone back to the closet), and Sa'rat Recruiting Ayla Hason back to the ranks of the corporation.
Vardi currently serves as the head of foreign affairs at Khan News and exactly a month ago he sat down on the chair of anchoring "Friday News" of Khan 11 - a slot previously occupied by Yaron Dekal, Geula Even and Hassan herself.
He began his journalistic career at the Educational Television Broadcasting Authority, from there he moved to News Ten where he began as an investigator, and continued as an investigative and documentary reporter on the "Shishi" program with Shelah and Drucker, and on the "HaMkor" program.
After that he served for 6 years as the political correspondent of the news company.
In 2017, with the establishment of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation, he moved to the position of foreign news editor and presenter of the program "The World Today", which he presented for 5 years until recently.
Verdi sat down for a conversation on the podcast of the Israel Press Institute.
On the agenda: the re-broadcast of news from ten of the threats of closure, whether the media should open the ranks further and what is his opinion about his replacement in Gaza - Ila Hasson.
Also, why did he decide to run away from Dagenia and how does late fatherhood feel?
A small part of the conversation is presented here in the article.
Listen or watch the full conversation.
Moab Verdi in "Tik Tok" (Reuven Castro, Ziv Steiner)
"Maybe I have defense mechanisms, maybe some will say that I'm indifferent, but I wasn't afraid. I didn't feel that now I'm doing something that I'm expected to do something so that someone will like it so that it won't be closed"
I'm trying to figure out how it happened.
This transition from international commentary to presenting current events is difficult. Not trivial.
"Look, two things exist in me at the same time.
Here is the part of the organization - why did they offer me - and that is what you will ask them.
For me, foreign news is something I love from my childhood when I opened atlases and felt like a geek.
When I presented "The World Today", which has no equivalent on Israeli television - a daily program that is only about foreign news.
It was very satisfying.
Opposite, I have a very strong connection to what is happening here.
We are also in a very sensitive and politically explosive time, and this is something that, as a foreign news editor, you naturally deal with less, and it really stimulated me to do.
I also really like the documentary part of documentation from the field, which as a foreign news editor you rarely get to, and on Friday I think I can bring it to light." This is a fairly
regular format, a summary of the week's news, a panel and magazine articles. Will you try to reinvent Friday?
"We don't want to produce a format that doesn't look the same as it does to this day, but within the framework there are things we want to change to give different viewing experiences. How we make the articles, what we want to say... the 'how' is more important than the 'what.' Since I started, four weeks ago, I wrote an article every week and went to try to touch on all kinds of angles in the division and the feeling that there are two countries here - Israel and Judah. To try to bring added value."
You came from New Esher which constantly worked under conditions of uncertainty, and also in a restless corporation - when until recently you were under threats of closure.
How does it affect work?
"You'll have to believe me but it didn't affect me. I didn't care to say yes, and maybe my managers would like me to say it did. Maybe I have defense mechanisms, maybe some would say I'm indifferent, but I wasn't worried. I didn't feel like I was doing anything now that I'm expected to do something so that someone will want it so that it doesn't close. I remember the incoming CEO Golan Yochpaz who said upon his arrival that the most important thing is that this thing doesn't affect us."
Bypassing network 13. The rating of Shishi news in the corporation (photo: photo processing, Walla system)
"Tired of the namedropping of counting how many righties"
"As far as I know, the desire to bring Ila Hasson to the corporation started long before Shlomo Karai. I don't believe that anyone there would really want to close the corporation. Recruiting a talent, no matter how good, would not have changed that."
So let's talk about the white elephant in the room.
At the height of the threats to close the corporation, Yochfaz made a controversial strategic move and recruited Ila Hasson, in what was perceived publicly as a way to repel the claims of Communications Minister Karai about the lack of diversity in the corporation's broadcasts.
What do you think of the move?
"As far as I know, the desire to bring Ila Hasson to the corporation began long before Shlomo Karai. I don't believe that anyone would really want to close the corporation. Recruiting a talent, however good, would not have changed that."
how do you know?
One of Karai's claims was that the corporation suffers from a lack of diversity.
When asked what he meant - since there are quite a few religious, ultra-Orthodox and right-wing people in the corporation - he gave the term "coalition supporter".
And since then he has been silent.
"It pains me that we have to talk about this because in my eyes these claims are baseless. I'll give a disclaimer: the media all over the world is mostly liberal media because people who go to the media are usually more liberal than conservative. It's not about politics, it's a sociological issue. Within this, I'm fed up From the namedropping of counting how many right-wingers. To tell you how many people who support the coalition parties work in the corporation in senior positions of editing, articles and submission?
"The assumption that someone brought Hasson to please someone is wrong in my opinion.
I think it's good that they brought her.
I'll tell you more than that, Hasson was brought to my slot, and still - I welcomed it.
The corporation, like any channel, needs to bring in a minimum mass of viewers, and Ayla's show brings in more viewers than the show that aired there before it.
All is well.
This is not a political statement.
If there was a conspiracy to do things to please the government then it should be more than one plan.
This is Nun Ishu."
"Nun Ishu".
Ayla Hasson (photo: screenshot, here 11)
Between pluralism and stoning women
And to the nature of the claims, can you understand my tears?
"I can understand the sentiment, it's easiest for me to say everything is nonsense. And I say yes - the entire media needs to open the ranks a little more, at the level of say 20%. I'll give you an example, on Friday evening, we, Amit Shoham (program editor D. f) And I myself make great efforts to bring reform-supporting publicists to the panel, and it does not come easily. And there are more things to do. But Karai's criticism is to take these 20% and turn them into 200% and in things that are neither rational nor matter-of-fact
. People who for many years did not see themselves on the screen, and it is our responsibility to give them a place.
In programs that have a publicist pan, in the end if everyone who was sitting had the same position - it is not interesting.
Today it's legal reform, tomorrow it's withdrawal from Gaza and so on.
And there should be an expression here for the variety of positions."
You can also bring gays and homophobes to discuss together to make it interesting.
"It's a demagogic comparison, and you're taking my words out of context. It's unfair. What's important is that if there's an issue that's in dispute in the public and it's not outside the bounds of legitimacy - to say you're in favor of stoning women, that's illegitimate - then I'll tell you that it's important to have other opinions. To say that there is no such audience is not true professionally. It may be that a large public supports him because he is not familiar with the reform, so let's break it down as a journalist.
"I want to say something else, I think that at a time like this it is not right to be home to only one camp.
A sounding board for one camp - right or left.
People love and seek to hear themselves.
This is the challenge in such a polarized time.
It's not just a challenge - it's also a mission."
"The most important thing is that this thing does not affect us."
Golan Yokhpaz and Shlomo Karai (photo: photo editing, Sivan Farage, Yonatan Zindel Flash 90)
"I think I would be remiss in my duty if I didn't ask him about it. Then a lot of pressure started from FIFA not to broadcast. From their point of view, he committed an attack on them. I'm very happy that everyone in the corporation backed me up on this."
Verdi is considered one of the main foreign journalists in Israel with extensive knowledge of regional and global geopolitics.
Among his prominent coverage of the foreign affairs were the coverage of the popular protest in Egypt (where he was even arrested by the Egyptian police and interrogated);
Documentation of the revolution in Ukraine and Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014;
Special documentation in Iraq of the war against ISIS; and more.
During the last World Cup in Qatar, Verdi had an exclusive interview with the singer Maluma, an interview that blew up because of the singer's refusal to answer a question about human rights in Qatar, the interview went viral all over the world.
"Funny," he says.
"Maluma is a Latin pop star and he came to perform there with the World Cup anthem, and as part of promoting public relations we were given the opportunity to interview me. It was clear to me that it was impossible to talk to him without asking about the human rights situation. There were many people who did not come because they did not want to come to whitewash the The crimes in Qatar. The truth is, I thought he would come out of it gracefully, but he blew the interview. He got up and left. It went very viral. I think I would be remiss if I didn't ask him about it. Then a lot of pressure started from FIFA not to broadcast. For them, he did They have an attack. I am very happy that everyone in the corporation did not blink and supported me in this."
The democratic instinct
"In the last few months it has been proven that what stopped the legislation was the struggle in the streets and the people who went out to Kaplan. You saw the illustration of democratic consciousness, in Eastern Europe this consciousness is much more limited
And in a sharp transition, risk a guess: Biden or Trump?
"It's a bit difficult, the elections are still a year and a half away... What I can say is that Biden was elected because of what he is not. He is not the agent of chaos, he is the moderate person who can bring order. At the same time, the expression of the age issue in Biden is very present. The question is What will prevail - this sentiment or the feeling that Trump can make a difference, in the economy for example. If the elections were held today I would bet on Biden."
Many compare the way in which Putin did not recognize the strength of the Ukrainian resistance before going to war - let alone thousands of differences - to Netanyahu who did not recognize the magnitude of the opposition in the public to a coup d'état.
"I wouldn't compare legislation to war, an enemy who kills you is not the same as someone who demonstrates against you. But if you are talking about the intelligence point - it could be so."
So here is another comparison: it is often thought that we will not reach the situation of Hungary and Poland, because the citizens of Israel have a more democratic consciousness.
As someone who knows the politics in Eastern Europe very well, do you agree with this concept?
"Yes, I think that's true. In recent months it has been proven that what stopped the legislation was the struggle in the streets and the people who went to Kaplan. You saw the illustration of a democratic consciousness, in Eastern Europe this consciousness is much more limited. But again, there is no guarantee. It depends on an instinct that is difficult to quantify or order about him. In the end - Netanyahu fires Galant and people jump out of their armchairs. It is based on something instinctive that you appreciate will continue to exist. Will it exist forever? I don't know. Is it possible to convey similar things using the Salami method? Maybe. But right now the proof is that there are instincts here Good. And you know what, you see that even many Likudinks do not support the reform, and you understand that there is something else here."
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