JERUSALEM: Israel’s cabinet on Monday (Dec 22) authorised a plan to close down Military Radio, a preferred nationwide broadcaster, in a transfer that critics say is a part of a wider marketing campaign by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition to curb unbiased media.
Defence Minister Israel Katz proposed that Military Radio, which has been broadcasting since Israel’s early years, be closed by March 1, 2026. Katz mentioned the station’s unique mission was to serve troopers, however argued that it had developed right into a platform for views that “assault the IDF and IDF troopers themselves”.
Military Radio is certainly one of solely two state-funded information retailers in Israel, alongside public broadcaster KAN. Each are editorially unbiased and have massive civilian audiences, regardless of Military Radio’s formal affiliation with the navy.
GOVERNMENT CRITICISM OF BROADCASTER
Katz mentioned an army-run radio station broadcasting to most of the people was an anomaly in democratic states. Netanyahu echoed that argument in the course of the cupboard assembly, saying such preparations existed in “North Korea and possibly a couple of different international locations”, including that Israel shouldn’t be counted amongst them.
The transfer instantly drew backlash from journalists, civil society teams and opposition figures, who warned it could harm press freedom.
“They need an obedient media, they don’t need important media,” mentioned Anat Saragusti, who oversees press freedom on the Israeli Union of Journalists, talking at a current disaster convention in Tel Aviv.
