How the Knesset Votes
English

Government bill · 19th Knesset · published as law 11 August 2014

חוק השידור הציבורי, התשע"ד-2014Law on Public Broadcasting, 2014 · automatic translation · suggest a correction

Status: התקבלה בקריאה שלישית

Topics: Communications, media and technology · no asterisk — automatically from words in the title

What the sponsors propose

A government bill to establish a new public broadcasting corporation that will replace the Broadcasting Authority, based among other things on the recommendations of the Landes Committee. According to the sponsors, the committee determined that this is the only framework that will enable independent, efficient and excellent public broadcasting, and the bill is also based on the Broadcasting Authority Law and its Amendment No. 27. According to the explanatory notes, the public broadcasting corporation will begin operating on 31 March 2015, at which point the broadcasts of the Broadcasting Authority and the Educational Television will cease and the television fee will be abolished; the corporation will have a 9-member council appointed through a search committee headed by a retired judge, a director general whose appointment will not require the approval of a minister or the government, and a separate commercial division. According to the sponsors, the professional council will strengthen the corporation's independence, and the law also establishes transparency mechanisms, duties of loyalty and care for officeholders, and a protected budget composed of a vehicle fee and a separate government transfer, in order to ensure the budgetary and professional independence of public broadcasting.

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Hebrew original

הצעת חוק ממשלתית להקמת תאגיד שידור ציבורי חדש שיחליף את רשות השידור, המבוססת בין השאר על המלצות ועדת לנדס. לדברי המציעים, הוועדה קבעה כי זהו המתווה היחיד שיאפשר שידור ציבורי עצמאי, יעיל ומצטיין, והצעת החוק מתבססת גם על חוק רשות השידור ותיקון מס׳ 27 שלו. לפי דברי ההסבר, תאגיד השידור הציבורי יחל לפעול ב-31 במרס 2015, אז יופסקו שידורי רשות השידור והטלוויזיה הלימודית ותבוטל אגרת הטלוויזיה; בתאגיד תפעל מועצה בת 9 חברים שתמונה באמצעות ועדת איתור בראשות שופט בדימוס, מנהל כללי שמינויו לא יהיה טעון אישור שר או ממשלה, וחטיבה מסחרית נפרדת. לדברי המציעים, המועצה המקצועית תחזק את עצמאות התאגיד, ונקבעים בחוק גם מנגנוני שקיפות, חובות אמונים וזהירות לנושאי משרה, ותקציב מוגן המורכב מאגרת רכב ומהעברה ממשלתית נפרדת, כדי להבטיח עצמאותו התקציבית והמקצועית של השידור הציבורי.

An automatic summary of the explanatory notes written by the bill's sponsors. These are their arguments, not an official Knesset summary. · The bill on the Knesset website

Readings

What was said in the plenum

The law dissolves the existing Broadcasting Authority and establishes in its place a new public broadcasting corporation with three television channels, accompanied by the abolition of the television fee and a transition to government funding and other sources. The debate focused mainly on the question of whether the proposed model indeed disconnects public broadcasting from political and budgetary influence, and on how to handle the dismissal of thousands of employees of the existing Authority ahead of the establishment of the new body.

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Hebrew original

החוק מבטל את רשות השידור הקיימת ומקים תחתיה תאגיד שידור ציבורי חדש בעל שלושה ערוצי טלוויזיה, המלווה בביטול אגרת הטלוויזיה ובמעבר למימון ממשלתי וממקורות אחרים. הדיון נסב בעיקר על השאלה האם המודל המוצע אכן מנתק את השידור הציבורי מהשפעה פוליטית ותקציבית, ועל אופן הטיפול בפיטורי אלפי עובדי הרשות הקיימת לקראת הקמת הגוף החדש.

Arguments for

  • The Broadcasting Authority in its current state has completely failed, suffering from neglect, a sharp decline in viewership and poor management, so it cannot be fixed through partial treatments and a new body must be established from the ground up.
    Gilad Erdan (Likud Yisrael Beytenu), Eitan Cabel (Labor), Nachman Shai (Labor), Merav Michaeli (Labor), Micky Rosenthal (Labor), Itzik Shmuli (Labor), Erel Margalit (Labor), Karine Elharrar (Yesh Atid), Amram Mitzna (Hatnua)
  • The television fee is an unjust, regressive and inequitable tax, and it should be abolished and its funding transferred to another source.
    Gilad Erdan (Likud Yisrael Beytenu), Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), Amram Mitzna (Hatnua)
  • The law ensures a significant and dedicated budget for original productions in Hebrew and Arabic, for children, and for quality content, with a protected distribution rate between creators and broadcasting bodies unlike anything before.
    Gilad Erdan (Likud Yisrael Beytenu), Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid)
  • The law includes new mechanisms strengthening the body's independence from politics, such as the appointment of a CEO by the council rather than by the minister, a search committee headed by a judge, and the separation of the role of news editor from that of the CEO.
    Gilad Erdan (Likud Yisrael Beytenu), Esawi Frej (Meretz), Karine Elharrar (Yesh Atid), Amram Mitzna (Hatnua)
  • The law underwent substantial changes during the committee's work, including an agreement signed with the Histadrut and the absorption of a quarter of the employees without a tender, so it is balanced and considers the employees as much as possible.
    Esawi Frej (Meretz), Eitan Cabel (Labor), Micky Rosenthal (Labor), Karine Elharrar (Yesh Atid), Amram Mitzna (Hatnua)

Arguments against

Who spoke (27)
MemberFactionReadingsSpeechesIn the final vote
Gilad ErdanLikud Yisrael BeytenuFirst reading, Third reading17for
Zehava GalonMeretz oppositionFirst reading2against
Ilan GilonMeretz oppositionFirst reading, Third reading4against
Michal RozinMeretz oppositionFirst reading1no record
Esawi FrejMeretz oppositionFirst reading, Third reading11for
Tamar ZandbergMeretz oppositionFirst reading4against
Omer BarlevLabor oppositionFirst reading1no record
Eitan CabelLabor oppositionFirst reading, Third reading6for
Isaac HerzogLabor oppositionFirst reading3no record
Nachman ShaiLabor oppositionFirst reading, Third reading7against
Reuven RivlinLikud Yisrael BeytenuFirst reading4no record
Merav MichaeliLabor oppositionFirst reading, Third reading2against
Moshe Zalman FeiglinLikud Yisrael BeytenuFirst reading4no record
Basel GhattasBalad oppositionFirst reading1no record
Micky RosenthalLabor oppositionFirst reading, Third reading9for
Dov KheninHadash oppositionFirst reading, Third reading3against
Nissim ZeevShas oppositionFirst reading, Third reading10no record
Itzik ShmuliLabor oppositionFirst reading2no record
Erel MargalitLabor oppositionFirst reading, Third reading5for
Karine ElharrarYesh Atid coalitionFirst reading, Third reading3for
Nitzan HorowitzMeretz oppositionThird reading3for
Amram MitznaHatnua coalitionThird reading1for
David AzoulayShas oppositionThird reading4no record
Aliza LavieYesh Atid coalitionThird reading3for
Shelly YachimovichLabor oppositionThird reading3against
Israel EichlerUnited Torah Judaism oppositionThird reading2against
Michal BiranLabor oppositionThird reading1against

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. A very long debate: every speech was shortened to the same length before summarising. Transcripts of the sittings: 1, 2, 3

Reservations, sections and other votes (42)

In order. Votes on reservations and individual sections are shown separately from the vote on the bill as a whole.

Source: bill page in the Knesset legislation database ↗

Law on Public Broadcasting, 2014 · How the Knesset Votes