MK Eitan asked the Committee head, Supreme Court Justice Dorit Beinish, to issue a restraining order banning Channel Two from broadcasting forbidden election propaganda.
The Likud petition quotes findings of the "Israel Media Watch" organization, which indicate a clear preference for Kadima on Channel Two broadcasts. Channel Ten, on the other hand, was found to be balanced in its election coverage of the various parties.
As an example, Eitan's complaint states that at the end of last week - a critical juncture in the election campaign - Channel Two broadcast two forbidden election propaganda clips. The first was what Eitan called a "one-sided and malicious character assassination of Binyamin Netanyahu." The clip contained "over 50 insulting, abusing, lying and subjective remarks about Netanyahu," the complaint charges, "which reflect only the personal positions of the news company."
In addition, the complaint stated, "unrestrained attacks [against Netanyahu] by Kadima's Chaim Ramon were broadcast and strengthened by archive pictures that had nothing to do with Netanyahu, such as Rabin in an S.S. uniform - which was circulated, as is known, by GSS agent Avishai Raviv - and demonstrators shouting, 'Death to Rabin' - all in order to strengthen Ramon's claim that Netanyahu is a right-wing extremist."
The Likud complaint also charges that though two friends of Netanyahu were interviewed to speak in his defense, their remarks were taken totally out of context. One of them, Atty. David Shimron, said, "To my amazement, when I saw the clip, I saw that they had taken just a few sentences, which they manipulated and took out of context in order to further blacken Netanyahu's name."
This is not the first time that the Likud has complained against Channel Two. MK Gilad Erdan said that the station's political commentator Amnon Rabinovitch consistently airs his anti-Likud positions. Erdan's request that Channel Two balance its coverage was not fulfilled.
MK Eitan repeated his charges today on the Knesset Channel. He added that Channel Two's economic reporter Nechemiah Strassler, who praised Netanyahu's performance as Finance Minister in the past, "nowadays doesn't have a good word to say for him. Even if he wants to accuse him of zig-zagging, as an objective reporter, he should have first presented his [Netanyahu's] accomplishments, and then proffered criticism."
The Likud petition quotes findings of the "Israel Media Watch" organization, which indicate a clear preference for Kadima on Channel Two broadcasts. Channel Ten, on the other hand, was found to be balanced in its election coverage of the various parties.
As an example, Eitan's complaint states that at the end of last week - a critical juncture in the election campaign - Channel Two broadcast two forbidden election propaganda clips. The first was what Eitan called a "one-sided and malicious character assassination of Binyamin Netanyahu." The clip contained "over 50 insulting, abusing, lying and subjective remarks about Netanyahu," the complaint charges, "which reflect only the personal positions of the news company."
In addition, the complaint stated, "unrestrained attacks [against Netanyahu] by Kadima's Chaim Ramon were broadcast and strengthened by archive pictures that had nothing to do with Netanyahu, such as Rabin in an S.S. uniform - which was circulated, as is known, by GSS agent Avishai Raviv - and demonstrators shouting, 'Death to Rabin' - all in order to strengthen Ramon's claim that Netanyahu is a right-wing extremist."
The Likud complaint also charges that though two friends of Netanyahu were interviewed to speak in his defense, their remarks were taken totally out of context. One of them, Atty. David Shimron, said, "To my amazement, when I saw the clip, I saw that they had taken just a few sentences, which they manipulated and took out of context in order to further blacken Netanyahu's name."
This is not the first time that the Likud has complained against Channel Two. MK Gilad Erdan said that the station's political commentator Amnon Rabinovitch consistently airs his anti-Likud positions. Erdan's request that Channel Two balance its coverage was not fulfilled.
MK Eitan repeated his charges today on the Knesset Channel. He added that Channel Two's economic reporter Nechemiah Strassler, who praised Netanyahu's performance as Finance Minister in the past, "nowadays doesn't have a good word to say for him. Even if he wants to accuse him of zig-zagging, as an objective reporter, he should have first presented his [Netanyahu's] accomplishments, and then proffered criticism."