חוק שידורי טלוויזיה מהכנסת (תיקון מס' 6), התשע"ו-2016Television Broadcasting from the Knesset Law (Amendment No. 6), 2016 · automatic translation · suggest a correction

Official summary of the law (Knesset)

The Knesset Television Broadcasts Law (Amendment No. 6), 2016 (hereinafter - the Amendment), was passed in second and third reading on 3 August 2016. The Knesset Television Broadcasts Law, 2003 (hereinafter - the Law) regulates the broadcasts of the Knesset Channel. This amendment concerns the anchoring of the recommendations of the public committee for examining the regulation of the Knesset Channel broadcasts, and establishes several provisions, the main points of which are detailed below: Among other things, the amendment establishes that the media means for transmitting the broadcasts will be expanded. Currently the Knesset Channel broadcasts only on television. The amendment establishes that the broadcasting body will be required to establish a website on which plenary and committee sessions of the Knesset will be broadcast, as well as state events, including plenary and committee sessions that were not broadcast on television, and supplementary broadcasts that were or are broadcast on television. Regarding supplementary broadcasts: since these broadcasts are currently defined very broadly, it is established that the content of supplementary broadcasts must be connected to the work of the Knesset, the activity of Knesset members, or political activity. It is also established in the amendment that when filming and broadcasting Knesset plenary sessions, the broadcasting body will focus on the speaker in the Knesset plenum - filming him and broadcasting all of his remarks. However, this provision does not prevent the broadcasting body from deciding to film and broadcast other occurrences in the plenum in parallel. A further amendment concerns the regulator of the Knesset Channel broadcasts: according to the law as currently worded, the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting (hereinafter - the Council), operating within the Ministry of Communications, is the regulator of the Knesset Channel broadcasts. In addition to selecting the broadcasting body through a tender, the Council sets rules and instructions regarding the Knesset Channel broadcasts and conducts ongoing oversight of the broadcasting body's activity. The amendment establishes that, with regard to its duties and powers concerning the Knesset Channel only, 2 public representatives with knowledge and experience in parliamentary work will be added to the Council's composition. The Knesset Speaker will appoint one of them, and the leader of the opposition will appoint the other. The amendment further establishes that these Council members will not participate in votes at Council meetings if their vote would be decisive in the vote, or if the vote relates to the tender procedures for selecting the broadcasting body. The amendment also establishes that the existing provision in the law concerning ensuring reliable broadcasts will be supplemented by a provision according to which the broadcasting body's obligation is to ensure that the content it broadcasts will be faithful to factual truth and to the duty to report to the public, and also to ensure that the content of supplementary broadcasts will not include severe harm to the dignity of the Knesset as the house of representatives of the state, unless the content has news or educational value justifying the broadcast under the circumstances, provided that the harm does not exceed what is required. It is also established that this provision will not prevent factual coverage of what occurs in the Knesset or of the activity of Knesset members. Regarding the right to participate in the tender for obtaining a license for broadcasts on the Knesset Channel: the amendment establishes an additional condition for competing in the tender - the existence of accounting separation between the activity of the corporation applying for the tender and its activity as a broadcasting body on the Knesset Channel. The amendment also establishes that the Council may require a corporation eligible to apply for the tender to establish, as a condition for its participation in the tender, a separate corporation for the purpose of its activity as a broadcasting body on the Knesset Channel.

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What was said in the plenum

The law enshrines the conclusions of a public committee headed by retired Judge Frisch and reorganizes the operation of the Knesset Channel: it broadens the name and definition to include internet broadcasts and not only television, defines how plenum sessions will be filmed (focusing on the speaker while allowing background shots), adds two public members to the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council without decision-making power on tender matters, establishes a prohibition on severe unjustified harm to the dignity of the Knesset, and leaves unchanged the eligibility conditions for participating in the franchise tender while prohibiting private funding. The debate focused mainly on whether a law is even necessary given that, in the view of most speakers, the Knesset Channel is functioning well, and on the suspicion that this is an attempt by the Prime Minister to take over another media body and harm free press, versus the claim that the law is intended to preserve fair competition in the future tender and prevent disparagement of the Knesset.

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An automatic summary of the plenum transcripts: the debate on the bill at every reading it was voted on. Arguments are given as the speakers made them; this is not an assessment. The list of speakers comes from the transcript, without a model. Transcripts of the sittings: 1, 2

Reservations to the second reading

5 reservations were filed: proposed changes to the text the committee brought to the second and third reading.

The reservations are intended to delete or change proposed provisions regarding speaking rights in the Knesset plenum and restrictions on broadcasting corporations, including deleting sections and paragraphs relating to ownership of the broadcasting corporation.

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By faction

• Zionist Union opposition · 5 reservations · 24 members
• Yesh Atid opposition · 3 reservations · 11 members
• Joint List opposition · 2 reservations · 13 members
• Shas coalition · 1 reservation · 1 member

A joint reservation counts for every faction whose members filed it.

Asked to speak: Zehava Galon (Meretz), Ilan Gilon (Meretz), Esawi Frej (Meretz), Michal Rozin (Meretz), Tamar Zandberg (Meretz)

Proposers and reservation numbers are extracted automatically from the committee version, and the count is checked against the numbers printed in it. The descriptions are an automatic summary. Committee version for the second and third reading (PDF)