TV

The film about Roni Daniel is a farewell to a journalist who is almost like no other

Keshet 12 gave up valuable prime time real estate in favor of a film about one of its news company's employees. Although we already know the story of Roni Daniel, it is worth dwelling on it again to remember the statehood that was and has been lost

Ben Biron Brauda

08/24/2022

Wednesday, August 24, 2022, 08:37

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Promo for the movie "Roni - The Story You Didn't Know" about Roni Daniel (Kashet 12)

"Roni - The Story You Didn't Know" a documentary about the life of the reporter and military commentator of News 12, the late Roni Daniel, was supposed to be broadcast about two weeks ago. The date chosen was closer to the anniversary of his death, but as fate would have it, an operation began on that very evening. Dawn" and the broadcast of the film was postponed. It is hard to think of someone who would have welcomed the postponement of the broadcast of the film about him in favor of live broadcasts from Gaza. In this sense, Roni Daniel already got what he wanted even before the film was even broadcast.

The director Tzipi Bader combined interviews with colleagues, childhood friends, and colleagues who became friends, with many archive clips of Daniel, and created a broad mosaic of one of the most recognizable and recognizable newsmen on Israeli television.

For those like me who grew up watching Channel 2, it seemed that Roni Daniel grew up with the television, he was a part of our screen just like the act of going to commercials or the eight o'clock news.

In this case, the commonality between the viewers and the speakers in the film is the great surprise of the man's sudden death, at the age of only 73.

Sometimes values ​​prevail over commercial considerations.

Roni Daniel, "The Story You Didn't Know" (Photo: Screenshot, Keshet 12)

The choice of the interviewees in the film is not accidental, it has a representation of the most prominent news people in Israel, Miyont Levy, Carmela Menashe, Razi Barkai and Alon Ben David, Derech Avi Weiss (CEO of News 12) and Ilon Shalio (founder of the Channel 2 news company) alongside people. Anonymous' behind the scenes such as Ohad Yathach, Nir Azoulai and Shlomi Afriat, who became Daniel's personal friends. And of course there are the requested archive clips from his interview with the host of the talk show in the past and the current Prime Minister of Israel, Yair Lapid, an interview that does not contain much new but is still surprising and amusing (and also sad in the context of a commemorative film).

Contrary to the name of the film, it would not be correct to say that Daniel's story is one we did not know.

Those who have followed the man behind the stern image, who has often been identified with the IDF almost like the Chief of Staff, have already heard a lot about the story of immigrating from Iraq without a father, his life in Kibbutz Maoz Haim and his highly accomplished military career.

They also encountered evidence of the soft side of the man, who, as could be seen upon learning of his death, was one of the most beloved within the Channel 12 news company, and not just because he had been there since its inception.

In general, the very creation of the film and its broadcast are, for me, a great point of merit for Keshet and the news company, which often receives justified criticism, but you cannot take away from it the humanity and loyalty with which it treats its old people.

Placing the film immediately after "The Next Star" knowing that it is not a ratings bomb, is an act that shows that sometimes (rarely though) values ​​and agenda also prevail over commercial considerations.

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She had a kind of parental authority.

Yonit Levy, "Roni - the story you didn't know" (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)

As Liou describes, Daniel's transition from radio to television was not obvious.

When he met him for the first time, Daniel was already considered a 'dead horse' and not a fresh face to conquer the screen, but the confidence he demonstrated, accompanied by his professionalism and unparalleled connections with military personnel, brought him to the position.

All of this connects to a certain extent to the gap between Daniel's image on the screen, who always seems poised and collected, and the man his friends say he was behind the scenes - soft, funny, caring and empathetic.

The 'tutoring' that Daniel took on the news reporter Barhanu Tagnia (even though the latter was a jobber) shows a lot about his desire to support the younger generation of newsmen.

As Yonit Levy also testifies, that although she sometimes appears to us on the screen as an unassailable leader, in moments of crisis she looked to Daniel as a kind of parental authority.

Levy, an avid culture lover, is also the one who says that the book that influenced Daniel the most was "Catch 22" by Joseph Heller,

worldview.

Roni Daniel, "The Story You Didn't Know" (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)

Although his name was not associated with scandals, Roni Daniel was not without criticism during his life.

First, his absolute identification with the IDF caused many to wonder if he is an extension of the IDF spokesman at least as much as he is a military commentator.

Secondly, at a later stage of his life he also said "I'm not sure I want my children to stay living here", which provoked great anger towards him.

From the film you can learn about the motives behind the two events.

His connection to the IDF stemmed not only from his long military career, Daniel, who immigrated here with his mother for Zionist reasons, continued throughout his life to see the army as a unifying factor, a symbol that should not be touched or reproached, and his love for it was uncompromising. Out of that love and faith Absolute to the place he lives in, he also began to criticize processes happening in the country, which led him to the same controversial statement about the future of his children.

In this sense, "Ronnie - the story you didn't know" perhaps succeeds in bringing added value beyond being a commemorative film for a co-worker and a symbol of the news company.

It also has a farewell to a different type of journalist who will soon no longer exist here.

This is particularly evident in the conversations with Barkai and Carmela Menashe, the true old school of Israeli military correspondents.

One can hear in their words a certain lamentation about statehood that was accepted and lost.

Throughout all the years of his career, Daniel was very careful of any political identification, identification with the army?

Certainly, but he escaped like fire from an entrance to the political game.

Today, when more and more journalists or those who pretend to be such use the studios as a springboard for the Israeli Knesset, Roni Daniel is not only a person who has left us, but probably also a world view.

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