I dropped by to visit a friend, a successful and educated hiatkist and a technologically up-to-date guy.
The TV in the living room was on, and I commented to him like a good Pole who ruined the electricity.
"I deliberately don't turn it off," he explained, "my friend works in this show and I want the ratings to go up."
Any reader who knows a little about the television sector in Israel is now shaking his head in despair, almost like me at that moment.
The year is 2024, Rachel's grave is still being called, the elderly woman in front of you insists on paying by check, Lior Shlain continues to sting investors in failed media ventures, and yes - people still think that a hidden supercomputer calculates ratings according to the number of televisions that are on at that moment, and not through the People Meter system .
The friend, by the way, nodded politely to the explanation, but left the TV on because "it probably won't hurt."
The next morning I heard on the radio Colonel (res.) Dan Halutz announcing that "if they gave me an F-16, I would fly to rescue the hostages", in the afternoon Major General (res.) Amos Gilad explaining why the government is missing out, and in the evening Major ( Mill.) Amos Yadlin reassures that Hamas is no longer really dangerous except for "a rocket here and a rocket there" (I swear to you). My first thought as a media consumer was to ask: Why are those securityists crowned with spectacular failures and miserable predictions, who have persecuted them until 120, still invited to the studios?
These are three out of dozens, if not hundreds, of senior security officials, who in any other western country are supposed to at least hide in a shelter, leave the house only when it's really dark, and even then pray that they won't be recognized on the street.
Certainly not to know ashtrays on TV personally.
think about it.
A pioneer who raves about rescuing hostages in a fighter jet, when the only thing he rescued in his career was his stock portfolio long before it became mainstream;
Amos Gilad made sure to miss Hamas in every senior intelligence position he filled.
And Amos Yadlin?
He is willing to sacrifice residents to accommodate "a rocket here, a rocket there" because what does he care.
So what if he explicitly stated three days before the massacre that "Israeli intelligence learned the lesson of '73".
Needless to say, the list of commentators devoid of awareness and embarrassment continues with Bogie Ya'alon, Guy Tzur and Tamir Himan, and more and more fat pensioners with a failed intelligence history who continue to staff the studios.
These are three out of dozens, if not hundreds, of senior security officials, who in any other western country are supposed to at least hide in a shelter, leave the house only when it's really dark, and even then pray that they won't be recognized on the street.
Certainly not to recognize ashtrays on TV in person
As far as shamelessness is concerned, I have no complaints against those champions and senior reserve officers.
People who grew up in a systemic, caressing and praising environment simply don't have that muscle.
The complaint is to others: how is it possible that every producer and editor still includes those chubby budget pensioners in their lists?
It makes no sense to invite commentators who will statistically in retrospect blast the channel with another forecast that has aged particularly badly.
And yet, hardly a day goes by without seeing their faces or listening to their halting voice.
The system's failures will continue to staff the studios and embarrass themselves, the viewers, and especially the producers and editors.
They understand the lack of logic, but the old habit, the addiction to wrong securityists, is already rooted in the DNA. Like that friend and the TV on. Only, unlike failed ratings measurements, this habit is harmful. Of course it is harmful.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
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