It isn't pleasant to hear the truth, but neither can one argue with hard facts. The Israel broadcasting company, funded by taxpayer money, has a heavy majority of employees from the Leftist camp and opponents of the present government.
The truth is that this is not a military secret nor a domestic secret but a reality which has not changed for the past decades, even since the Likud came into power. Rightist factions associated with the Likud recently published a diagram depicting media announcers from the corporation, grading their sympathies with the government. The company was up in arms and attempted to deflect the impact of this list. But the facts did not surprise anyone.
The originators of the ad 'graded' the announcers in a program of current issues according them individually with marks from 1-5, with highest mark to the most outspoken opponents of the government. Next are three medium marks, beginning those who supported the government at the bottom. Those who were graded as neutral received a three, while those who opposed the government but not extremely so received a four.
According to this table, most of the announcers received 4 or 5, that is, they were hostile to the government, either outspokenly or somewhat lesser. One broadcaster was marked as 'neutral', while another received a 2 which indicated a cool support of the government. Not one received a 1 rating showing a generous support of the government.
The Broadcasting company's director-general sent a letter to the employees condemning the marks, writing, among other things. "I request to declare my revulsion to that article of categorizing and grading newsmen. This is a dangerous step in demolishing the free press and the weakening of democracy in Israel. Nevertheless, I am convinced that even this act of denouncing people for their affiliation to groups expelled from the society do not daunt us or undermine newspapermen or corporation employees from continuing their work without fear but with probity and professionalism.
Where, indeed, does this publication conflict with democracy? And why does the fact that the conglomerate of public broadcasting — yes, this does belong to the public which supports it from its own pocket — does not show balance in contrast to the long list of announcers who oppose the government, a list which fails to show even one government supporter?
How does this sit as the "undermining of free press' when there is a harsh and disturbing inclination which has no statistical validity? Where is the connection of favoritism, when not one of those newspapermen is ashamed of his political leaning nor even attempts to camouflage it?
The list was not published in a vacuum but on the background of a bill which was passed a first reading in the Knesset to privatize the public broadcasting company, or alternately: to stop funding it from government money. It is inconceivable that when the public itself is made up of a strong majority of Rightists, and the government, as well, has a majority of Rightists, that this selfsame majority should not enjoy a proper representation from a company supported by government funds.
The corporation is bemoaning the bill and is employing its prime powers to destabilize this from the foundation, but those who claim to represent a free and democratic press are demanded to provide a reply to the public as to how such a body consistently leans heavily against the Right, and how this jibes with democracy and free press.
The Press in the US
Just in order that we begin to understand how the media works, let us cross the ocean to the great and democratic United States, where the Democratic Party experienced a downfall. Up until Election Day, inclusive, the local press, very large and influential, presented facts indicating that Harris would pass Trump in most of the battleground states. The trust in her victory was so certain that the party rented a huge hall to celebrate, while Trump's staff rented a much smaller hall, under the assumption that acknowledging a defeat could be acknowledged with a modest place.
A few weeks after Harris' searing defeat and Trump's certain victory, the truth came to light. Top men in Harris' election campaign admitted that Harris had never been ahead of Trump in the surveys. Internal data consistently showed that the incumbent vice-president was behind her opponent in the important states but these facts were hidden from the public so as not to endanger the Democratic Party's falsified campaign of deceiving the public.
The press consolidated against Trump, hid the true facts, or perhaps, simply believed the falsified surveys in order to rev up the Democratic voting public and fire up their enthusiasm, hopefully to change the tide.
The American public was sick of the present president and his party, which the press was well aware of. But the hatred towards Trump and the fear that his victory would harm the Leftist rule in America, caused the press to deceive the public and withhold from it the true trends which clearly showed an overriding victory for the former president already before the elections.
