Israel’s attorney general asks to halt broadcasting law — Jerusalem Post
Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara asked the High Court of Justice to fully suspend the broadcasting law pending consideration of 11 petitions against it. As The Jerusalem Post reports, she believes that violations during the law’s passage substantially increase the applicants’ chances of succeeding in court.
The Knesset passed the law on July 16 by a vote of 53 to 48, shortly before its dissolution, and it was published on July 28. The petitions were filed by media companies, journalists’ associations and civil society organizations. On July 19, Justice Ofer Grosskopf temporarily blocked provisions that were to take effect immediately, but did not fully suspend the document because most of its provisions were due to take effect later.
Procedural concerns
Baharav-Miara said that the government did not conduct proper economic, practical and legal analysis of the reform before submitting the bill to the Knesset. According to her, the document was published without the approval of the attorney general or an authorized representative, while the Regulatory Authority identified significant problems in the assessment prepared by the Ministry of Communications.
She also noted that the Knesset’s special committee, chaired by Likud lawmaker Galit Distel-Atbaryan, held about 60 meetings, but drafts of the document were repeatedly changed, while important provisions were added or rewritten at the end of the review. In the attorney general’s view, lawmakers did not always have sufficient time to study the changes, assess their cumulative effect and propose alternatives.
She separately pointed out that the Knesset’s legal advisers had not completed their review of the text before the final vote. They asked for updated versions, accompanying information and additional time. After the vote, lawmakers said that some parts of the text brought before the plenary contained errors or did not correspond to the committee’s decisions.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Risks to the media market
The law is intended to update broadcasting rules formed before the spread of online television viewing. It provides for the creation of a single regulator instead of two bodies overseeing commercial broadcasters and cable and satellite television operators, and also changes rules on channel distribution, news broadcasting, media ownership and investment in Israeli production.
Baharav-Miara claims that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi effectively controlled the work schedule, wording and key decisions of the special committee, although the committee itself was supposed to consider the ministry-initiated bill. She said this weakened the Knesset’s independence. The bill was referred not to the Economics Committee, which usually considers communications legislation, but to a specially created committee.
The attorney general also warned of possible irreversible changes in the media market. In particular, the law immediately abolishes some restrictions on simultaneous ownership of stakes in commercial television channels and cable or satellite platforms, while the new approval system will begin operating only in two years. She believes that deals may be concluded during this period that will increase the concentration of media ownership.
Karhi, who is represented separately because of differences with the attorney general’s position, rejected the court’s authority to suspend the law and accused the court and Baharav-Miara of protecting established media organizations. The court must determine whether to fully suspend the law, retain the narrower temporary restriction in force, or allow the application of some of the blocked provisions while the petitions are being considered.
