Israel’s FCC equivalent, the Cable and Satellite Council, on Tuesday announced that it had fined Israel’s Channel 20, the “heritage channel,” $28,00 over the lack of representation for non-Orthodox Jewish denominations in its broadcast schedule, Ha’aretz reported. The fine was imposed after several warnings to the channel’s management regarding complaints that had been filed with the Council.
Channel 20’s operating license specifies that it must provide an appropriate platform for all the Jewish denominations, although it is yet to be seen if the heritage channel would be similarly punished for not allowing Israeli Karaites, Samaritans, or Jews for Jesus a platform of their own.
The Council’s review, which took place in March and April this year—following a number of complaints, found that there was no representation for Israel’s Reform and Conservative movements. In July, the Reform movement petitioned the High Court of Justice on this matter, but their case might become moot since Channel 20 will now be required to report monthly to the Council on the representation of non-Orthodox Jewish denominations.
Council Chairperson Yifat Ben Hai Segev clarified that “the Council’s decisions explicitly state that the Council will strictly observe the channel’s compliance with the existing directives, including expression of a variety of opinions and streams in the public, and therefore the exclusion of various groups from the channel’s broadcasts is a violation of the license’s provisions.”
Recently, the Council has launched another investigation against Channel 20, which could cost the channel another $28,000, regarding a soft baseball interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The fine will likely be imposed not because the PM’s interviewers went easy on him to an embarrassing degree, but because the channel has not yet received its permit to run news.
Last year, the channel was fined $40,000 for covering terror attacks in the Sarona compound and in Istanbul without a license.