Nili Ben-Gigi Wolfe, the Director-General of Israel Media Watch (in Hebrew, the Association for the Public's Right to Know), sums up the Jewish year of 5767 by showing that, despite popular perception, the fight for fair media in Israel is not lost. In an article published in HaTzofeh, she summed up what she felt were the top ten victories of the past year. Some of them appear below, in no particular order.
1. Gabi Gazit is no longer with the Israel Broadcasting Authority. Subject of the most-ever complaints filed with the IBA, Gazit made his left-wing views and other strong opinions known in a brusque manner that offended many - at least according to the number of SMS's recorded in a "get Gazit off the air campaign." It took two years, Wolfe writes, but "the nation of media consumers does not fear a long trek."
2. Despite great efforts by interested parties to extend the licenses of the regional radio stations for another four years, and thus prevent new stations from entering the arena, it did not happen. Thanks to the integrity of Second Channel Authority head Nurit Davosh, and to public pressure, public tenders will be offered in the near future for four years of regional radio broadcasting.
3. Rafi Ginat, the former editor of Yediot Acharonot, is not the Director-General of the Channel Two News Company, thus avoiding another deterioration in the dangerous bonds linking big money, government and media. The struggle required a general enlistment and integration of forces involving various social organizations, Knesset Members and public figures, and it appears that Ginat's candidacy has been permanently removed from consideration.
4. Thanks to a complaint by a reader submitted to Israel Media Watch, the Walla Hebrew news site was forced to remove a photo that had nothing to do with the story it appeared with, yet painted the right-wing pioneering community in a negative light. The story dealt with the intended rebuilding of the Shomron community of Homesh - and had a photo of a boy on the roof of the Kfar Darom synagogue during the expulsion from Gush Katif. The caption read, "The acid that was spilled on the soldiers." IMW noted that no acid was ever proven to have been thrown or spilled on soldiers, and that in any event, the provocative photo-and-caption had nothing to do with Homesh. The photo was removed shortly thereafter.
5. Eyal Sivan, the producer of anti-Zionist films, was chosen to produce a movie in the framework of Israel's official 60th anniversary celebrations. Public pressure was exerted, and the decision was revoked.
6. Television commercials are no longer louder than the programs that preceded them. This, thanks to public pressure that led to the passage of a law to this effect.
7. Jews in Hevron purchased a building in a city and named it Peace House - but announcers of the Israel Broadcasting Authority began calling it Dispute House. They did not stop using this unwelcome nomenclature until viewers and listeners complained, leading to the IBA's Complaints Commissioner Amos Goren to give the order: Call the building by the name its owners gave it. And so it happened.