Nissenkorn will not interfere with gov’t decision on public broadcasting

Which of the two Israeli broadcasting entities will go, which will stay or will they merge.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
After threatening last week to call a national strike if the government harms public broadcasting, Histadrut chairman Avi Nissenkorn has had time to think about the crisis and has retreated, if not exactly retracted.
He told Israel Radio that he will abide by whatever the government decides vis a vis the closure of the yet-to-be-launched Israel Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) or the rehabilitation of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), whose imminent demise has received a temporary stay of execution.
At the same time, he made it clear he would continue to look out for workers’ rights and interests.
Another meeting of the joint committee set up last week by Prime Minister and Communications Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon to examine the public broadcasting crisis and to come up with recommendations for an economically feasible solution to the problem – which of the two broadcasting entities will go, which will stay or will they merge – was scheduled to be held on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the IBA is moving ahead as if its days are not numbered, and on Sunday introduced its new documentary series: And the land was empty and chaotic: The history of the Land of Israel.
It took Itai Landsberg Nevo, the head of the Channel One documentary department, five years to get approval for the production, the first episode of which was aired on Sunday night after it premiered on Friday morning at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.
The series, according to Landsberg Nevo, is even better than the highly acclaimed Pillar of Fire and Whispering Embers, a documentary series of meetings with Russian Jews towards the end of the Communist regime.
Also on Sunday, the IBA introduced regular live broadcasts on social media, making its Mabat News and Mabat Sheni (Second Look) current affairs program available live on the IBA’s Facebook to ensure that no one has to miss out on Channel One’s televised news broadcasts just because they’re not at home.
At IBC, it was also business as usual, with an announcement that public relations executive Sharon Ben David had joined IBC as head of public relations and public diplomacy.
Ben David has a Bachelors Degree in Communications from the Open University and Masters Degree from Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
IBA often signs off with “IBA in liquidation,” whereas IBC signs off with “IBC under construction,” as each of the entities ignores, or pretends to ignore, the sword of Damocles hanging over its head.