Is the role of the media to deliver all the information it has to the public?/ShutterStock
American Senator Hiram Johnson is known to have said that "the truth is the first hole in any war".
Is it necessary for the media to lie during war, or to hide information from the public?
Isn't it her job to hand over all the information in her hands to the public (provided it has been censored), including serious failures of the army that resulted in injury to our soldiers, or is she obligated to considerations of public morale and the motivation of the fighters?
Is it right and proper for the media to hide from the public the number of our dead, or as in the current case, the Hamas videos with our abductees, even if the families of the abductees do not demand it?
Is it appropriate for the media to criticize the actions of the army or the policies of the government during the fighting, or should it remain silent during this time, and does the silence of the criticism of the actions of the army and its commanders contribute to our security or perhaps on the contrary, harm it?
Could it be that exposing the failures of the army or, as sometimes happens, exposing the criminal behavior of fighters, or publishing doubts about the justice of fighting, or about the legality of certain activities or orders, such as the "Hannibal Procedure", might loosen the hands of the fighters at critical moments for their lives and our security?
And is the public ready to accept a media that does not hesitate to expose failures and omissions during combat, or may it see this as unpatriotic behavior and even treason?
These questions come up again and again, whenever the country goes through another round of fighting, and the answers to them are different and varied.
These issues will be discussed at a conference to be held by the Zolt Institute for Equality and Human Rights in memory of the journalist and jurist Prof. Moshe Negbi.
For Moshe, the media world was not an arena for publicity and fame, but rather, a mission, a tool for world reform.
All his life Moshe tried to make Israel a better, more just, fair, moral place.
All his life Moshe tried to combine justice with justice - and the media was for him the means to fight for a democratic Israel and for the freedom of the press in Israel.
Unlike the previous rounds of the war, these issues arise this time against the background of the massacre of October 7, which provoked a fury the likes of which we had never known, a fury that led to the awakening of nationalist feelings and the silencing of critical voices, especially at the beginning of the war, as well as against the background of dealing with the coup d'état that the government tried to promote, in the framework of which it requested Harm the existence of free media and the status of journalists in Israel, at the same time as attempting to undermine the independence of the judicial system and human rights.
Freedom of expression and the right to know are the cornerstones of any democratic society.
The late Prof. Moshe Negbi/Flash 90, Yossi Zamir
Prof. Negbi, who was known for his uncompromising fight for freedom of expression, along with his support for taking strict measures against expressions of hatred and incitement, believed that even in times of war the public's right to know should be respected: its right to form its own opinion on the circumstances of the campaign, its motives, critical events during it, and the circumstances of its termination.
Freedom of expression and the right to know are the cornerstones of any democratic society and these do not cease to exist even in times of war, claimed Negbi.
There is no disputing that in times of war there is sometimes a necessity to limit communication in order to save lives.
The right to life precedes the right to express an opinion.
But precisely in times of war, sometimes it is the prohibition of publication and its restriction that may deprive lives and harm the security of the individual and the whole.
Concealing the failure of the bodies that navigate and manage a military campaign may be much more dangerous than the dysfunctional or corrupt functioning of elected officials, Negbi wrote in his article "Tastes of Security", which is accessible to the public on the "Seventh Eye" website.
According to him, even the political system is not exempt from media criticism during wartime.
The accessibility and distribution of information about the government's failures, its failings, and its injustices and corruption are important at all times, and even more so in times of war.
This is so that the public can act as required, remove those responsible for failures and corruption and bring about a correction, which will benefit not only the opponents of the government, but everyone.
The conference that will deal with the role of the media during war, will try to provide some answers to these disturbing questions.
The late Prof. Negbi/Berni Ardov
Negbi saw governmental corruption as a real threat to Israeli society, and many of his letters and lectures discussed the erosion of the norms of behavior at the top of the government and the public service in general.
He is especially worried about the ongoing campaign against the judicial authorities and the attempts to delegitimize the law enforcement system.
Eradicating corruption, punishing those responsible for it, and removing them from positions where they can loot the public purse and abuse their power for their personal well-being or the well-being of their associates, are essential not only in days of corrections but also in times of war, and perhaps especially in times of war, Prof. Negbi taught us.
Furthermore: the justification for limiting media exposures and reviews in times of war stems from their potential harm to an existential security interest.
But the basic premise of a democracy - as opposed to a dictatorship - is that the elected officials may also be wrong regarding the critical question of what is the aforementioned security-existential interest and what will harm it.
The questions regarding the security interest should be clarified through public discussion and dealing with alternative and even contradictory concepts.
Without such a discussion, it is very easy for the government to stick to a concept that could turn out to be disastrous.
So are the questions regarding the goals of the war, and in the terms of these days, whether the goal of the war is to defeat Hamas or to rescue the hostages, or both goals together.
Such discussions will only be effective when all relevant information for forming an informed opinion is available and accessible to all.
Six years after Prof. Moshe Nagvi's death, public interest in these issues has not diminished.
On the contrary, more and more questions arise as a result of the regime change that they are trying to impose on us, and as a result of the fighting in Gaza, and fewer and fewer answers are given to us these days.
The conference that will deal with the role of the media during war, will try to provide some answers to these disturbing questions.
The conference will be held on 21.2 at 11:00 and will be broadcast live.
In collaboration with Zolt Institute
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