Israel's Educational TV is in need of some education itself, says Nili Ben-Gigi, director of Israel Media Watch (Lada'at). “We have had hundreds of complaints from Israelis over dozens of problems with Educational TV,” Ben-Gigi says. “We are demanding that the Education Ministry, the Israel Broadcast Authority, or whomever else is supposed to, get the organization's house in order.”
The latest outcry over Educational TV came this week, as veteran reporter Gal Gabay, in a talk show, criticized Israelis who hike and explore historic areas of Judea and Samaria. Gabay, speaking to right-wing activist Amotz Eyal, said that Israelis who took such hikes were “provocateurs” seeking to cause trouble, and that they were coming to hike in “Palestine.” And, despite her claims later, in an apology she issued, Gabay repeated the term several times.
Talkbacks against Gabay on news websites have been vociferous in their disapproval of Gabay's comments. Hundreds of people have already signed a petition demanding that she be fired, despite her apology, which, the petition states, “appears to be more of an admission of guilt than an apology.” In her apology, Gabay said that she “obviously” mean to say “territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority,” and expressed her disappointment at “how a mistake was turned into a political position.”
This is not the first time Gabay or her program, “Making Order” (O'sim Seder), has raised the ire of Israelis, or of Media Watch. “This program has a long history of prejudice against the right, with Gabay freely expressing her political opinions on a program that is supposed to be informative, not opinionated,” Ben-Gigi says. A recent Media Watch study showed that Gabay interviwed on average four Labor Mks for every two Likud Mks, for example, while clearly leftist interviewees outnumbered right-wing guests by 4 to 1.
Problems abound with other ETV shows – and with the station in general, says Ben-Gigi. “For example, they rarely acknowledge Jewish holidays or historical Israeli events, and they broadcast very inappropriate content during hours that children are watching.” That latter issue is especially egregious, Ben-Gigi says, because ETV is supposed to be just that – educational – and many of the programs it offers have marginal educational value, or, even worse, are teaching the wrong things, she says.
So just who is in charge over there? “No one,” says Ben-Gigi. “ETV does not answer to anyone, and there is no one supervising it. They spend the public's money without anyone keeping track. This issue has been mentioned numerous times in the annual Comptroller's report on government problems, but nothing has been done yet.” Media watch has forwarded the many complaints on ETV to the Education Ministry, and to several Education Ministers – but so far, virtually nothing has been done.
One thing that may finally change the situation, says Ben-Gigi, is the government's plan to include ETV among the stations broadcast on digital satellite, a plan that was announced last month. “If they do upgrade ETV to be included in satellite broadcasts, the station will have to upgrade its equipment and programming, which means that someone will have to take responsibility for it,” she said. “That's what we have been trying to accomplish for years.”