In the video: a look at the Rolnik report/here 11
The broadcast corporation's investigative program Doh Rolnik, the first episode (out of six) of which was broadcast last night (Sunday), achieved a viewing figure of 5%.
This is a reasonable figure for a program of this type on the corporation's screen (for comparison, the corporation's investigative program "Real Time" often achieves much lower figures), but is much lower than the viewing volume of the prime or similar programs on the commercial channels.
The Rolnik Report series that aired on Haan 11 and Haan BOX, produced by "Haemek Communication" owned by the former CEO of Channel 11, Yossi Warshavsky, has made headlines in recent days, not for the reasons or under the circumstances that its creators wanted.
Brief background:
In contrast to Rolnik's previous series that dealt mainly with capital-government-newspaper relations, the current series, which is broadcast continuously for a week, deals with how social networks have changed our lives for the worse, and made our politics and society more polarized - not exactly something that the Israeli government and its leader , who bases his public popularity largely on the use of social networks - were happy to see.
Yesterday it was announced in Globes (a direct competitor of Rolnik's The Marker) that the broadcasting corporation invested approximately NIS 600,000 in each of the six episodes of the program.
According to the publication, "the amount is considered to be twice as high as a standard investigative program, and even one that comes close and maybe even surpasses News 12's 'Ovda'."
The publication in Globes attributed the relatively large expenditure "at the taxpayer's expense" to the changes made in the last two years, which led to the inflation of the budget.
First the facts:
in Israel there are three investigative programs, so it is not clear what is meant by the term "standard".
This is the program "The Source" of Network 13, "Ovda" of Keshet 12 (not News 12) and "Real Time" of the Broadcasting Corporation.
About two years ago it was revealed in Vala!
Branch that the broadcasting corporation offered Drucker to move and broadcast "The Source" in the amount of about 400 thousand per episode.
It was also revealed that the cost of filming and producing a single program of "Ovda" is estimated at NIS 550,000.
The estimate in the industry is that the "real time" of the broadcasting corporation - which is considered to be significantly cheaper than them - is about NIS 250,000.
Since then, presumably, the costs have gone up - so in any case, it's not double the price.
Round corners.
Globes/screenshot, screenshot
The corporation spent close to NIS 5 million on the series.
A high amount by any standard, certainly when it comes to public money
And yet, this is a high budget or similar to that of the successful "Ovda".
The corporation explains that Rolnik's program, contrary to the fact and the source, spent a large amount of money for filming abroad and that it was filmed and edited before October 7, so episodes had to be re-shot and re-edited, and therefore the price increased from an amount close to NIS 500,000 to an amount close to -600 - "And it still hasn't reached 600".
But that's not the end of the expenses for the series. Wow! Baranja learned that the corporation spent close to a million shekels for the launch campaign for the program - some in barter. A glimpse of the costs was received right here a few days ago, in the publication About the decision by the Yedioth Ahronoth group to take the promotional campaign for the series off the air at the last minute. The value of the campaign that the newspaper gave up - about NIS 200,000.
In other words
: the corporation spent nearly NIS 5 million on the series. A high amount by any standard, certainly when it comes to public money Here, say, one should insert an additional modifier that the corporation prefers to ignore: "Ovda
"
is considered one of the most watched programs in Beshet 12. The last interview that Ilana Dayan conducted with Gadi Eisenkot as part of Ovda, for example, won 17.3% - more than three times what Rolnik won in the corporation Even if you take into account the mandate that the corporation has to produce series of public value that do not come through the "hole in the dime" and even if thousands of additional viewers will watch the series on YouTube - it is still an investment of a large order that at the very least raises question marks.
More in Walla!
In the latest news, they refused to publish a campaign for Rolnik's new series
To the full article
Picked up the glove.
Cracks/Walla system!, Reuven Castro, PEXELS
Karai: "Almost all government bodies were required to make significant cuts in their budgets, but these cuts bypassed the corporation"
The first to pick up the gauntlet, less than an hour after the news was published in Globes, as expected, was Communications Minister Shlomo Karai, who never misses an opportunity to attack the broadcasting corporation in order to weaken it.
"It is unlikely that the corporation will behave extravagantly with the public funds entrusted to it," Karai wrote, at the same time as a number of right-wing journalists who echoed the message.
"Following the publication that found that the Public Broadcasting Corporation invested approximately NIS 600,000 in an episode of Guy Rolnik's program, this evening the Minister of Communications Dr. Shlomo Karai sent a letter to the corporation's auditors demanding a special audit and the provision of information regarding the Israel Broadcasting Corporation," noted Karai.
"The Minister of Communications turned to the auditors of the corporation demanding that they urgently conduct a special audit of the corporation's books and provide him with its findings, in light of the investment in an unusual amount compared to what is customary in the industry, which even exceeds the production costs of similar programs in commercial broadcasting." The minister also added that: "We are in a period A hard bag, caused by the war that was raging on us.
Almost all government bodies were required to make significant cuts in their budgets, but these cuts were passed over by the corporation.
Despite this, it is unlikely that the corporation - even on a routine basis, not least during a period of cutbacks - will behave extravagantly with the public funds entrusted to it."
"The natural place for its broadcast is on public broadcasting"
The Broadcasting Corporation responded: "The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation invests, by law and on the basis of professional criteria only, millions of shekels per year in Israeli creations and local productions - which include an investigative program, a documentary, a cultural drama and entertainment. Tonight, a new six-episode investigative program will be broadcast here at 11 and here BOX, which deals with the largest and most influential monopolies in the world. The first episode will deal with the extent of the contribution of the global social network giants to the massacre committed by Hamas.
"The natural place for the broadcast of the series, which could hardly have found a place on the commercial channels, is on public broadcasting.
The program is not a documentary program or an interview program, but an investigative program in which some of the leading investigators in Israel work, based on a worldwide investigation and including photographs in a long series of locations across the globe.
"The program was planned to be broadcast before the October 7th massacre. Following the war, it was filmed in large parts, re-edited, and underwent the budgetary adjustments and programs required in light of the events."
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