A new ratings trend suggests that Keshet 12’s news division is losing reach. In recent weeks, its flagship Friday program, "Ulpan Shishi," has fallen to single-digit ratings, and in the past few days the channel’s main evening news, led by Yonit Levy, also dropped to single digits for several days, partly because of World Cup broadcasts. Keshet 12 remains Israel’s most-watched TV group, but fewer viewers are choosing it for news.
The article argues that Israeli television has entered an era of political polarization, where viewing habits increasingly reflect ideology. According to the writer, Channel 14 has become the main challenger to Channel 12, with sharply rising ratings over the past four years. It is said to have answered right-wing viewers’ belief that mainstream media, especially Channel 12, is not truly objective and tries to shape public consciousness.
The biggest shifts, the article says, came during the judicial overhaul protests and the war. During the overhaul fight, Channel 12 and other center-left outlets took an unambiguous stance against the government, gave extensive airtime to the protests, and amplified calls to stop reservist volunteer service in the IDF. The writer cites Dani Kushmaro’s remark, "So basically we do not have an air force now," as an example of pressure on the government. After October 7, Channel 12 briefly regained a unifying role, but over time some viewers came to see it as working to weaken Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the war, pushing them toward right-leaning competitors.
The article says the turning point for many was Guy Peleg’s reporting on a Sde Teiman video involving a rape allegation by IDF soldiers, which turned out not to have happened. It also points to other on-air statements and inaccurate reports, including a presenter saying, "the government is urinating on the fighters," and a claim that ministers skipped Lt. Col. Ben Simhon’s funeral because they were at a wedding, later corrected after it emerged the family had asked them not to come and the wedding had taken place earlier.
The writer concludes that Channel 12 cannot restore trust through lawsuits against right-wing critics, and that its executives, including Avi Nir and Avi Weiss, will eventually have to adapt to Israel’s changing audience. If its journalists continue to dominate the editorial agenda, as happened at Channel 13, Keshet 12 could follow the path of Channel 10 and lose the broad public appeal that made it the country’s leading channel.
