Bill would stop government advertisements in newspapers

Move to web advertising would save the government money while helping protect the environment by not wasting paper, sponsor Shama-Hacohen says.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Shama 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Shama 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation will vote Sunday on a bill that would shift the government’s advertising from print newspapers to websites.
The government spends hundreds of thousands of shekels annually on advertisements for available jobs, tenders and death notices. Many of the ads are required by law to be published.
Knesset Economics Committee head Carmel Shama-Hacohen (Likud), who sponsored the bill, said it would save the government money while helping protect the environment by not wasting paper.
Shama-Hacohen countered criticism that the bill would harm newspapers financially by saying the government would take out ads in websites run by the same newspapers the ads run in nowadays. A similar bill was voted down a year ago.
But now the bill has added significance because it comes to a vote following several steps seen as targeting media outlets by the government and shortly after Shama-Hacohen’s committee decided against taking measures that could prevent the closure of Channel 10.