President of Israel Reuven Rivlin today, Sunday, hosted the launch of the Israeli Press Institute at Beit Hanasi. President of the institute, retired judge Dalia Dorner, and Director Golan Yochpaz also participated in the event.
“It seems that there is no more suitable time to re-examine the role of the media,” said the president at the beginning of his remarks. “In recent years, with technological developments, the development of social media and other geo-political changes, the press – domestic and global – has suffered structural shocks which have raised fundamental questions regarding its identity and role.”
The president added, “The role of the institute you are establishing today will be, first and foremost, to redefine the blurred borders between political propaganda, marketing content and serious journalism. To remind us all that the media, defined as the watchdog of democracy, is a uniquely important part of the democratic apparatus whose task it is to criticize and investigate, without fear or favor, and to whom the principle of separation of powers must also apply. You will need to stress, at every opportunity, that journalistic ethics are not a recommendation, but rather a decisive issue of conscience and professionalism. You will need to clarify what is the role of the state and what is its area of responsibility when distinguishing between factual reporting and fake news, between legitimate expressions and dangerous incitement.” The president said that the first order of business for the institute will be to impress on its staff the commitment to diversity of views from all sectors and political positions.
The president noted that, “in recent years, there has been a crisis of confidence between the public and the press. The way to restoring it will never be through adopting a political agenda of one kind or another. Public faith will be earned only through professional, thorough, uncompromising work which is faithful to clear journalistic ethics, to the Israeli public and to Israeli democracy. As Jabotinsky once said, “In a place where there is a free press, there will also be hope.”
President of the Israeli Press Institute, former supreme court justice Dalia Dorner, “In recent years, we have seen the deterioration of public trust in the media. This trend is very dangerous for democracy, whose strength relies largely on a strong and trustworthy press and on public consensus regarding the crucial value of the freedom of the press. I have met many young people in recent years, and many of them receive most of their information from social networks. I came to the conclusions that in order to restore public confidence in the press, and particularly among young people, we must work on media literacy, which is not currently taught in the formal education system. I worked to create the Israeli Press Institute primarily to fill that gap.”
Director of the Israeli Press Institute Golan Yochpaz: “With all those who wish to blur the importance of a strong, free investigative press in Israel to the Israeli public, we will try to make it clear just how critical it is on a day-to-day level, and how continued damage to it will erode our democratic resilience. We will try to reinforce the importance of journalists standing up for their freedom of action in their newsrooms, particularly at this difficult time for Israeli journalism.”