During a Knesset committee debate on Monday, lawmakers revealed that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi had supplied the wording for an objection to his own bill, a move that appeared to further benefit billionaire Patrick Drahi, who is seen as close to the government. Opposition MK Eitan Ginzburg noticed that MK Avi Maoz of Noam and MK Limor Son Har-Melech of Otzma Yehudit had submitted identical objections, then asked Maoz whether someone had dictated the text. Maoz replied that the wording came from Karhi and said, “He spoke to me verbally, I told him to bring the text.”
The bill, which the coalition is pushing forward only months before elections, is intended to weaken the media and is being advanced by a special Knesset committee. According to the report, the draft includes a series of regulatory and economic advantages for Drahi, whose holdings include HOT, i24NEWS, Srogim and Kikar HaShabbat. Among the reported benefits is permission for i24NEWS to air advertisements immediately once the law passes, potentially worth tens of millions of shekels a year.
Other reported provisions would let i24NEWS keep prominent channel placement even though other broadcasters had to pay millions of shekels for similar slots, expand its distribution to cable and satellite platforms, remove a minimum investment requirement in news, and abolish cross-ownership restrictions that could broaden Drahi’s influence in the media market. The law also reportedly contains clauses requiring commercial broadcasters, including Keshet, to make some of their content available to distribution platforms for free, a change that could mainly help HOT.
MK Shelly Yachimovich, identified in the article as Shelly Yaron of Yesh Atid, said, “Karhi is trying to whitewash this through MKs. It is nothing less than criminal.” The article says the timing and scale of the bill raise concerns about political pressure on media outlets, support for outlets friendly to the government, and new financial burdens on more critical broadcasters, including possible fines for content the government does not like.
