Coalition chairman MK David Bitan (Likud) said in an interview on Channel 2 News on Friday that he did not see a situation in which both the Israel Broadcasting Authority and the new Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC or 'Kan") would be dismantled. The possibility has been raised in view of the political difficulties in launching Kan.
Kan is due to take over public broadcasting in Israel in January, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to thwart it. Bitan introduced a bill to this end, and a cabinet vote on the matter was due to have taken place today, but Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon threatened to veto any move to abolish Kan and instead rehabilitate the Israel Broadcasting Authority on the grounds of its cost. Last week, Kahlon and Netanyahu agreed that a team drawn from the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communications would examine the matter and make recommendations.
"The broadcasting corporation has failed in its task of going on air," Bitan told Channel2, "It was supposed to be balanced, but it is left-wing and anti-government. The employees of the Israel Broadcasting Authority are ready to accept any streamlining measures, and it is therefore possible to reach the same result with less money." Bitan added that everything that had been invested in the corporation could be trabsferred to the authority, so that there would be no waste.
"I have no problem with them being leftists," he said, "but a situation has come about in which they seek to implement their agenda with public money."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 6, 2016
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