‘Stage two’ of Karhi’s controversial broadcasting bill proposes radio reform

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi launches “stage two” of his media overhaul with a plan to reshape Israel’s radio market, despite legal warnings and mounting opposition.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi (Likud) announced “stage two” of his controversial communications reform bill on Tuesday, presenting a separate bill that will include a new model for commercial radio broadcasting in Israel.

The additional bill reforming radio broadcasting comes after the Knesset plenum passed, for its first reading earlier this month, Karhi’s highly controversial communications bill that proposes to implement sweeping reforms in Israel’s broadcasting sector.

The new “stage two” proposal bill focuses on the radio market in Israel and the areas in which stations can broadcast.

Currently, Israel consists of radio stations that broadcast nationwide and regional stations that do not reach the entire country, which is divided into 13 license regions.

The channels that reach throughout the country are Army Radio and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.

The proposal states that the purpose of the bill is to allow FM radio broadcasting without geographic restrictions by offering tenders.

An existing license holder can participate in a tender before their license expires, and if they win, they would broadcast under the new model to achieve broad nationwide coverage.

The tender would be based on price, with each entity allowed to hold a maximum of three frequency channels, the proposal states.

The bill proposal notes that many parts of it are identical to those in Karhi’s overall communications bill reform and could be merged with it.

A-G disapproves of Karhi’s bill

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara did not approve advancing the wider communications reform bill before it reached the plenum for first reading.

She stated in September that the bill poses a concrete danger to the free press in Israel and its ability to carry out its duty in a democratic society, adding that the proposal itself is lacking in fundamental qualities.

The Union of Journalists in Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice against advancing the communications reform bill.

According to the petition, the bill’s reform violates administrative law, ignores legal advice, and threatens the independence of the press.

Critics and politicians have slammed the government for the attempts at sweeping reforms to Israel’s broadcasting, along with the recent shutdown of Army Radio after 75 years of broadcasting, which Defense Minister Israel Katz announced last week.

In a lobby at the Knesset on Monday against the shutdown of Army Radio, Haim Har-Zahav from the Union of Journalists in Israel said that the attempt to close the station “is part of a broader development” related to the “growing ties between wealth and political power.”

Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler from the Israel Democracy Institute said at the lobby that shutting down Army Radio is an attack on freedom of expression, “when the intention is to eliminate half of the public radio market.”

Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.