Text of report in English by Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post website on 18 July; subheading inserted editorially
Despite a public outcry earlier this year that appeared to stave off a cancellation of the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s English News on the radio, the cash-strapped IBA is now proceeding with draconian cutbacks anyway, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Among these cuts, IBA sources said, is the cancellation of the English News’s 10 p.m. 25-minute summary of the day’s news, broadcast locally and abroad via the internet, digital and shortwave radio and satellite on Reshet Heh - scheduled to go into effect at the end of July.
“We’re cancelling the 10 p.m. show overseas,” an IBA source told the Post, but said the evening 8:30 p.m., 15-minute local news show will be broadcast overseas on shortwave instead. “We still have our internet broadcasts; the 6:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. [on the Reka network]” the source said. “These are available on Reshet Aleph and on our Web site as well.”
In addition, staff overtime and studio hours used to prepare reports are also being cut. Staff members have complained about a unilateral 10 per cent reduction in their overtime hours, and the workers’ union has asked them not to sign their end-of-the-month forms if the cut is enforced.
In response, IBA spokeswoman Linda Bar said there had been a reduction in overtime “not only in the English news but in all departments in the IBA. All over, the radio, the TV, all over. There has been a cut of 10 per cent of the overall count of hours for everyone”. Bar stressed that the IBA management’s decision was not to harm the English News radio or television news “right now,” and said she did not know of any plan to stop the overseas broadcasts.
Shmuel Ben-Tzvi, head of overseas radio, said: “We are making changes, not cuts. Everything on the radio is included.”
Arye Shaked, who heads Reshet Bet’s news division, said: “So far, I don’t see any cuts that have affected the English news or programs. They are negotiating about the reforms and the programs, but they haven’t implemented anything yet.”
IBA sources said that all night-time studio hours had already been cancelled earlier in the month, which means that no reports can be prepared after 8 p.m.
IBA budget cuts
“The [IBA] budget cuts influence the studios as well,” one source said. “So now we don’t get any studio hours after eight in the evening. That’s true for all the languages.”
Sources in the French, Spanish and Ladino departments confirmed that their nightly studios from 9 to 10 p.m., which they had shared with the English News, had also been cancelled. No such confirmation was received from Hebrew, Arabic and Russian news.
Steve Leibowitz, the head of IBA News on television, said the threatened cutbacks had not yet affected his department, which broadcasts on channels 1 and 33 at 4:50 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. “There have been no cuts up to this point,” Leibowitz said. “The basic issue is that the Broadcast Authority itself is going through a major financial crisis. And one of the possible areas that could be harmed was the English language news, but that is currently off the table. There is no current plan to change the English News. There could be a lot of firings in the IBA, and that could affect my staff. [But] my department is continuing as usual.”
Leibowitz said he expected any cuts to be “very small, with the exception of less overtime for my staff.” He noted that management had even asked him to prepare a proposal to “expand the English-language [television] news and give us an extra half hour every day” on Channel 33.
(Source: The Jerusalem Post website, Jerusalem, in English 18 Jul 07 via BBC Monitoring/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Despite a public outcry earlier this year that appeared to stave off a cancellation of the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s English News on the radio, the cash-strapped IBA is now proceeding with draconian cutbacks anyway, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Among these cuts, IBA sources said, is the cancellation of the English News’s 10 p.m. 25-minute summary of the day’s news, broadcast locally and abroad via the internet, digital and shortwave radio and satellite on Reshet Heh - scheduled to go into effect at the end of July.
“We’re cancelling the 10 p.m. show overseas,” an IBA source told the Post, but said the evening 8:30 p.m., 15-minute local news show will be broadcast overseas on shortwave instead. “We still have our internet broadcasts; the 6:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. [on the Reka network]” the source said. “These are available on Reshet Aleph and on our Web site as well.”
In addition, staff overtime and studio hours used to prepare reports are also being cut. Staff members have complained about a unilateral 10 per cent reduction in their overtime hours, and the workers’ union has asked them not to sign their end-of-the-month forms if the cut is enforced.
In response, IBA spokeswoman Linda Bar said there had been a reduction in overtime “not only in the English news but in all departments in the IBA. All over, the radio, the TV, all over. There has been a cut of 10 per cent of the overall count of hours for everyone”. Bar stressed that the IBA management’s decision was not to harm the English News radio or television news “right now,” and said she did not know of any plan to stop the overseas broadcasts.
Shmuel Ben-Tzvi, head of overseas radio, said: “We are making changes, not cuts. Everything on the radio is included.”
Arye Shaked, who heads Reshet Bet’s news division, said: “So far, I don’t see any cuts that have affected the English news or programs. They are negotiating about the reforms and the programs, but they haven’t implemented anything yet.”
IBA sources said that all night-time studio hours had already been cancelled earlier in the month, which means that no reports can be prepared after 8 p.m.
IBA budget cuts
“The [IBA] budget cuts influence the studios as well,” one source said. “So now we don’t get any studio hours after eight in the evening. That’s true for all the languages.”
Sources in the French, Spanish and Ladino departments confirmed that their nightly studios from 9 to 10 p.m., which they had shared with the English News, had also been cancelled. No such confirmation was received from Hebrew, Arabic and Russian news.
Steve Leibowitz, the head of IBA News on television, said the threatened cutbacks had not yet affected his department, which broadcasts on channels 1 and 33 at 4:50 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. “There have been no cuts up to this point,” Leibowitz said. “The basic issue is that the Broadcast Authority itself is going through a major financial crisis. And one of the possible areas that could be harmed was the English language news, but that is currently off the table. There is no current plan to change the English News. There could be a lot of firings in the IBA, and that could affect my staff. [But] my department is continuing as usual.”
Leibowitz said he expected any cuts to be “very small, with the exception of less overtime for my staff.” He noted that management had even asked him to prepare a proposal to “expand the English-language [television] news and give us an extra half hour every day” on Channel 33.
(Source: The Jerusalem Post website, Jerusalem, in English 18 Jul 07 via BBC Monitoring/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Changes reflect 1900-1925 UTC broadcast.
