Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Israel: A Critical-Legal History of Public Broadcasting Financing

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Transparency and Funding of Public Service Media – Die deutsche Debatte im internationalen Kontext

Abstract

Licence-fee funding in many public service broadcasting regimes is in turmoil and Israel is no exception. Since its inception in 1965, public broadcasting has been a continous presence and a central player in Israeli public life and culture, and the licence fee a common fixture. However, in 2014, the law that established the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was repealed and replaced by a new law, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Law, and the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) was formed to replace the IBA. While the IBA was funded by a combination of a licence fee on television sets, a levy on cars, public service announcements, underwriting on television, and advertising on radio, the IBC is mostly funded by government funding collected through a levy on cars, while the licence fee has been eliminated. The chapter reviews 55 years of rulemaking and policy development regarding the financing of public broadcasting in Israel. It argues that even though Israeli public broadcasting is in the midst of its biggest crisis, it is not the funding mechanism that is threatening its viability but political expediency, disrespect for its public mission, and, probably, corruption and greed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The new corporation was first named the ‘Public Broadcasting Corporation’, however in 2015, before it started operating, its name was changed to the ‘Israeli Broadcasting Corporation’.

  2. 2.

    For a detailed description analysis of IBA’s structure as well as the changes made over the years see Schejter (2009, pp. 45–51).

  3. 3.

    This brief history is based mostly on Justice Mordechai Ben-Dror’s opinion in HJC 757/84 The Daily Newspaper Publishers’ Association v. The Minister of Education and Culture and others, PD 41(4), 337.

  4. 4.

    See Ben-Dror’s above-mentioned opinion on page 344.

  5. 5.

    The lowest court in the system.

  6. 6.

    Broadcasting Authority Law (amend. no. 21 and interim arrangement), 2008, S.H. 2195, 132 (31 December, 2008); The Licence Fee for IBA Law (Freezing of the Licence Fee Reduction) (Legislative amendments), 2010, S.H. 2223, 304 (17 January, 2010).

References

  • Aronoff, M. (2001). Radical change in Israel: A review essay. Political Science Quarterly, 116(3), 447–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben Bassat, A. (2002). The obstacle course to a market economy in Israel. In A. Ben Bassat (Ed.), The Israeli economy, 1985–1998 (pp. 1–58). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumler, J., & Nossiter, T. (1991). Broadcasting finance in turmoil: An introduction. In J. Blumler & T. Nossiter (Eds.), Public broadcasting finance in transition: A comparative handbook (pp. 3–7). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coase, R. (1966). The economics of broadcasting and government policy. The American Economic Review, 56(1/2), 440–447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzog, C., & Karppinen, K. (2014). Policy streams and public service media funding reforms in Germany and Finland. European Journal of Communication, 29(4), 416–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landes, R. (2014). Report of the committee studying the path for future public broadcasting. http://www.moc.gov.il/siü_storage/FILES/3/3513.pdf. Accessed 29 Aug 2016.

  • Levi-Faur, D. (2000). Change and continuity in the Israeli political economy: Multi-level analysis of the telecommunications and energy sectors. In G. Shafir & Y. Peled (Eds.), The new Israel: Peacemaking and liberalization (pp. 161–188). Boulder: Westview.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupovich, A. (2001). Reform at IBA: A background report. Presented to the Knesset education and culture committee. Jerusalem: Knesset Center for Information and Research. https://www.knesset.gov.il/mmm/data/pdf/m00531.pdf. Accessed 29 Aug 2016.

  • Schejter, A. (2009). Muting Israeli democracy: How media and cultural policy undermine free expression. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharkansky, I. (1987). The political economy of Israel. New Brunswick: Transaction Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tokatly, O. (2000). Communication policy in Israel (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Open University.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Amit M. Schejter

Authors
  1. Amit M. Schejter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amit M. Schejter .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Erasmus Sch of History, Culture & Comm, University of Rotterdam, ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands

    Christian Herzog

  2. Dresden, Germany

    Heiko Hilker

  3. Berlin, Germany

    Leonard Novy

  4. Köln, Germany

    Orkan Torun

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Schejter, A.M. (2018). Israel: A Critical-Legal History of Public Broadcasting Financing. In: Herzog, C., Hilker, H., Novy, L., Torun, O. (eds) Transparency and Funding of Public Service Media – Die deutsche Debatte im internationalen Kontext. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-17997-7_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-17997-7_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-17996-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-17997-7

  • eBook Packages: Social Science and Law (German Language)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation