Veteran Reporter Matan Ayela Departs Channel 13 After Decade

Journalist Matan Ayela announced his departure from Channel 13 on Wednesday, concluding a ten-year tenure with the Israeli news outlet, including eight years at the company itself. In a personal post, Ayela described his deep connection to the newsroom, acknowledging the difficulty of his farewell.

"Channel 13 was much more than a workplace for me. It was a significant part of my life, years of work, learning, coping, growth, and especially people and stories I will never forget," he wrote. During his time at Channel 13, Ayela held various roles, starting as an investigator and progressing to system coordinator, assistant editor, chief editor, field reporter, and studio bulletin anchor.

He covered numerous major events in Israel, including the COVID-19 pandemic, five election cycles, wars and operations, national events, and special broadcasts. A particularly significant period in his career was the October 7th Hamas attack and the subsequent war. Ayela shared his close exposure to the harrowing stories of families of hostages, missing persons, and murder victims, both from the field and the studio.

"I will not forget the faces of the families of the hostages, missing, and murdered who came to the studio to cry out their anguish," he stated. He also detailed the emotional toll of filtering graphic materials for broadcast and managing live broadcasts from the control room or covering funerals in the field, admitting he would "get into the car and break down in tears" after difficult assignments.