Communications Minister Gilad Erdan announced he plans to accept the recommendations of the Landvis Committee favoring the dismantling of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and Educational Television. The committee was appointed by Erdan to examine the IBA and recommend a plan for rehabilitating the ailing agency. For most Israelis the IBA is far from an essential commodity since most of the country relies on cable or satellite television and feel the IBA is antiquated, expensive and unwanted. Much of its programming surrounds talk shows, which are inexpensive and only require bringing a few people around a table, chairs and a few glasses of water. Israelis today are not as interested in being inundated with news and analysis as was the case years ago.
Proponents of the state-controlled media insist the broadcasts are educational and maintaining the station is essential during an emergency situation. Even Israelis who are not opposed to the state-run station feel the latter must learn to generate sufficient wanted content to become fiscally viable and stop relying on a television tax to fund the IBA. There is also a widespread feeling the IBA has become a ‘good boys network’ that overpays its inflated number of underworked staff. The agencies staggering 700 million NIS annual budget is reportedly more than all of the regional stations in Israel combined. Most of the IBA budget is for salaries, over 50%. Erdan promises in the new entity, salaries will not amount to more than 30% of the annual budget.
Erdan plans to dismantle the IBA and create a new slim lined entity that will employ 600 people instead of 2,000, promising if Knesset approves his plan he will cancel the television tax as of March 31, 2015. He also plans to make public radio commercial free, thereby removing all external pressure.
While not everyone agrees with Edran’s conclusion, everyone agrees IBA is in need of a major overall.
Despite Erdan’s good intensions, even if passed in Knesset, the minister will have to face off with the Histadrut national labor federation, which is not about to remain silent as over 1,000 people lose their jobs. Erdan announced all of those employees being fired will receive appropriate buy out remuneration.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Now if they would only do the same thing to the other two agencies that have out-lived their usfulness – Histadrut and the Jewish Agency. Both seem to be a parking place for politicians who are “past their prime.”