The Jerusalem Post says that “howls of protest, outrage and disbelief” from its readers around the world have greeted the threat of the imminent closure of the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s English-language TV and radio news broadcasts. Ahead of a meeting of the IBA’s Management Committee tomorrow, at which almost all foreign language news broadcasts are facing the axe, the Post says its readers have written in from Israel, across Europe, the US, South Africa, Australia, Asia and beyond to urge the IBA to reconsider.
In a letter to the heads of the IBA, meanwhile, Professor Elihu Richter of the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine has called the plan to cut the IBA English broadcasts “a stupid exercise in self-destruction at a time when there never has been a greater need for increasing the English language service.”
“Imagine what would have happened in WWII had the BBC decided to cut its broadcasts to the world - broadcasting its messages to far and wide about Britain’s fight against Nazi Germany - or the US had decided to cut its Radio Free Europe and Voice of America broadcasts to those living under Communist tyranny,” Richter asked.
“Broadcasts of Israel’s message to the world are part of Israel’s fight for existence at a time of unparalleled danger to the country,” he stated. “The answer to the massive amount of misinformation and disinformation about Israel is a strengthened Israeli news service and programme broadcasting to the world in all languages.”
Readers who share The Jerusalem Post’s concern at the imminent cessation of English language news broadcasts by the IBA on TV and radio are invited to use the talkback option at the end of this article to ”sign” a petition, which the Post will convey to the IBA before tomorrow’s meeting on the future of the state broadcaster.
Posted in Full feed, For Media Prof
(Source: R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)