The government watchdog group Ometz is concerned that public money may be going to launch a news anchor's political career. The organization filed a request Thursday asking the Second Authority for Television and Radio to fire Channel 2 news presenter and former writer for the Yediot Acharonot newspaper, Yair Lapid, immediately due to a conflict of interests between his work and his political activity.
"The question of whether there's a conflict of interest between Yair Lapid's work as a news anchor for Channel 2, which is widely viewed, and his intent to build a career in politics has come up before,” the group noted in a letter to Second Authority head Amnon Nadav.
Lapid has become particularly politically active in recent days, the group noted, while continuing to enjoy public respect and recognition due to his work in the news. Recently he appeared at a lecture in Herzliya that was closed to the public; witnesses reported that he criticized the government and hinted at his own political plans.
"We're going to go back to the public that got away, we'll write a constitution and change the regime,” Lapid allegedly said.
Information gathered by Ometz has aroused concern that Lapid is backed by wealthy individuals, former politicians and media higher-ups, who hope to use him in order to change Israel's political landscape, Ometz said.
On Wednesday, the Second Authority said it would discuss Lapid's continued employment in light of his political activism. The statement followed the broadcast of recordings from his politically laden speech on the “It's All Talk” radio show.
Lapid, whose father, the late Yosef 'Tommy' Lapid, was a writer and outspoken talk show TV personality who then went on to create the now defunct, anti- religious Shinui party, is widely assumed to be planning the launch of a new secular leftwing party.
In recent years there have been several prominent journalists who made the switch to politics. These include current MKs Shelly Yechimovich and Daniel Ben-Simon (Labor), Nitzan Horovitz (Meretz) and Uri Orbach (Jewish Home). Pundits such as Dr. Guy Bechor and Yoav Yitzchak have remarked that in Israel, journalists have become a more powerful political force than the politicians themselves.