Kan Corporation Petitions Supreme Court to Cancel Budget Cuts

The Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (Kan) is joining the petitioners against the Broadcasting Law, also known as the "Law for the Elimination of Free Media," and is asking the court to cancel the implementation of the clause that will lead to a 25 million shekel cut in its budget. The petition claims that this is "part of an orderly action plan designed to dismantle all the protection mechanisms established in the Public Broadcasting Law, which ensure the independence of the corporation and its detachment from the political echelon."

On the last day of the Knesset, the plenum approved in the second and third readings the Broadcasting Law of the Minister of Communications, Shlomo Karhi. The law, which is part of the judicial reform laws promoted by the outgoing government, includes clauses that its opponents claim will harm the independence of news companies on television channels, subject the channels to a new political regulator, allow tycoons to establish centralized media empires, and grant benefits of up to tens of millions of shekels to Channel 14, which the petitioners define as a pro-government propaganda channel.

Even before the legislation was completed, petitions were filed with the Supreme Court demanding the cancellation of the law, both because of its anti-democratic content and because of flaws in the legislative process. Among other things, it was claimed that a special committee was established headed by MK Galit Distel-Atbaryan (Likud) with the aim of bypassing the Knesset Economic Committee, and that the Minister of Communications intervened blatantly in the legislative procedures — among other things by adding and removing clauses in the dead of night, while ignoring the position of the committee's legal counsel. Last week, the Supreme Court ordered a halt to the entry into force of the law's clauses with immediate effect, until a decision is made on the request to issue an interim injunction.

Now, the Kan corporation is also joining the petition, and is asking to cancel the 25 million shekel cut from its budget that was set within the framework of the law.

"The subject of this petition is not 'another budget cut,' nor is it a regular budgetary dispute or a purely financial decision. Its subject is the improper use of the corporation's budget as a lever for political influence, for silencing journalistic criticism, and for harming its independence. Turning budgetary power into a 'political stick' waved over the head of the public broadcasting corporation causes severe damage to its independence, creates a destructive 'chilling effect,' and threatens its very ability to fulfill its institutional and constitutional role."

The petition deals with Section 80 of the Broadcasting Law, which determines that the corporation's budget will be reduced from 650 million shekels to 625 million shekels per year. "In the explanatory notes to the bill, it was clarified that the justification for the move relies on a budgetary 'saving' that was supposed to be created for the corporation following one of the reforms included in the bill — the cancellation of the 'Idan Plus' system," the petition states.

According to the law, the 'Idan Plus' system was supposed to be replaced by a government application. However, following the opposition of the ultra-Orthodox parties, the clauses dealing with the application were cancelled at the last moment, and the provision intended to regulate the cancellation of 'Idan Plus' was also removed. Despite this, the provision for reducing the corporation's budget remained in place.

"This fundamental change required the holding of a renewed and full discussion on the new arrangement that was created," the petition claims. "This is because, unlike the arrangement of a cut in exchange for savings in the same amount, a situation was created in which there is a 'real' cut of 25 million shekels from the corporation's budget. However, such a discussion was not held."

The corporation claims that the true purpose of the cut is to harm its independence, and that this was the intention from the beginning. "This foundation arises from a series of public, consistent, and explicit statements by the political echelon that led the legislation," the petition states. "The Minister of Communications himself took off the masks and admitted openly to his true intentions. In the discussions of the special committee, in response to the arguments raised regarding the damage to the corporation's budget, the minister clarified openly that this is a first step in a much broader plan to harm the corporation: 'This is a small part of what the government and the Finance Committee intend to do, so of course this cut will be taken into account'."