This just in: An Arab director for Arabic TV - Haaretz

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This just in: An Arab director for Arabic TV

By Asaf Carmel

Tempers flared two weeks ago after the Israel Broadcasting Authority decided to look outside the authority for a new director of Channel 1. In the wake of that hullabaloo, many did not notice that the tender for director of Israel Television in Arabic was also opened to outside candidates. Five IBA employees applied for the position, including Shlomo Ganor, the director of Arabic-language programming for the past five years; Said Madi, head of the Arabic news department; Eli Nisan, the Arabic news' Knesset reporter, and Arabic sports writer Salomon Monir. They were not considered suitable. The tender committee, comprising all the members of the IBA's management committee, ostensibly sought to freshen up the Arabic programming, or Arabic TV, as it is known. However, the opening of the tender reveals a much more fascinating confrontation.

Khalil Rinawi, a member of the IBA management committee, claims that Arabic TV is archaic, broadcasting only Zionist propaganda, resulting in negligible viewership among its target audience. IBA chair Moshe Gavish holds a less extreme opinion, but also feels that the Arabic station needs a good shakeup. Opposing them are a few veteran workers, backed by IBA Director-General Mordechai Shklar, who believe the station is for all of Israel's citizens.

Rinawi and Gavish do not admit it, but it is doubtful a Jewish candidate will be found who meets all their administrative demands. Who knows? Maybe for the first time in 40 years Arabic TV will have an Arab director.

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Strategically important broadcasts

Arabic TV was initially established for propaganda purposes, both internal and external. The IBA Law (1965) states, among other things, that the purpose of the authority is to "hold broadcasts in Arabic for the needs of the Arabic-speaking population and broadcasts to promote understanding and peace with neighboring countries, in keeping with the principles of the state."

Over the years, Israeli governments have reiterated their commitment to those goals. The last time this happened was just two weeks ago. The government debated the need to rehabilitate the Arabic-language broadcasts and decided, as stated in the announcement by the government's secretary, that "reliable broadcasts, representing a different stance concerning Israel than that broadcast by the foreign Arabic stations, have tremendous strategic importance."

"I hope," said Ganor, who was relieved about two weeks ago from managing Arabic TV in light of his failure in the tender and his poor interpersonal relations with some workers, "that whoever is appointed in my place to manage Israel Television in Arabic - with an emphasis on the 'Israel' - will implement the latest government decision to the letter."

Rinawi is not convinced.

"Twenty years ago," he said, "There were only Jordanian, Syrian and Egyptian TV stations, and Israel Television, and back then you could push all sorts of stuff to the younger generation of Israeli Arabs. Today, however, when there are dozens of satellite stations, the younger generation is far more educated and informed. It won't accept any nonsense. This public believes Al-Jazeera much more than it does Mabat News, and the situation is even worse concerning the news in Arabic, which is perceived as fabricated. The Arab citizens see a different reality on the satellite stations, as well as in the Israeli newspapers. Not only are the Arabic television broadcasts irrelevant, the population also views them as hostile and demeaning."

Gavish concurs that Israel's Arabic TV station should present Israel in a different light than the Arab stations. Still, like Rinawi, Gavish believes that a patronizing approach will not attract viewers.

"On the one hand," explains Gavish, "this is a public, state-sponsored television station. On the other hand, it is impossible to ignore the fact that a large share of Israel's Arabs view themselves as both Israelis and Palestinians. We cannot ignore the fact that the neighboring countries view a large part of history differently than we do."

What kind of director are you seeking now for Arabic TV?

Gavish: "He should be a man inspired by the Arabic language, with a proven aptitude for management and a background in broadcasting."

In other words, you are looking for an Arab director.

"Religious issues are not all that important to me. It would be like asking me if the director of the broadcasts in Hebrew should be a man or a woman."

Rinawi would also have no problem with a Jewish director, but he would undoubtedly have to be different from current employees.

"These are people who were planted there years ago, for a very specific purpose," says Rinawi emphatically, "but in the meantime things have changed."

"On the contrary," says one of the reporters, "Let them bring in an Arab director and we'll see how the ratings rise. It may look good from an image point of view, but what can he do without a budget and without personnel?"

The budget for Arabic TV, which employs 90 workers, totals about NIS 10 million. Al-Jazeera's budget is estimated in the millions of dollars, and that station has correspondents all over the world. Furthermore, Arabic TV is broadcast on channel 33, and can only be viewed by subscribers to Yes and Hot. Most Israeli Arabs, however, watch television via private satellite dishes with reception via one of the two largest satellite companies in the Arab world - Arabsat and Nilesat.

"Al-Jazeera often calls Israel the 'occupation regime.' Is that how you want me to relate to myself?" asks the reporter. Even so, he says, "we are not a station with a specific sponsor. We do not broadcast propaganda and do convey criticism, but we are still a state-run station. From the moment of our inception, our purpose has been to narrow the rift between the various populations. On the other hand, Al-Jazeera and its ilk just widen this rift. Every time there is tension on the Temple Mount, Al-Jazeera interviews Raid Salah, who says that Israel wants to destroy the mosques.

"There was a time when we had fantastic programs that got good ratings," recalls the reporter, "such as the programs on Israel's agricultural achievements in Arab countries."

And those were not "sponsored" broadcasts?

"Why? They served the interests of all Israeli populations. What, don't they make you proud?"

Establishment agenda

Unlike in the past, Arabic TV today no longer celebrates Israel's Independence Day. Even so, the news program a few days ago reflected an Israeli-establishment agenda. The opening report dealt with the U.S. secretary of state's visit to the region, and was followed by reports of the capture of wanted men in Nablus, the national convention of the Kadima party, attended by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; the Israeli declaration of Gaza as a hostile territory and the curfew imposed on the territories over Yom Kippur. Only three items toward the end related directly to the target audience: a nice piece of photojournalism on Israeli Arabs visiting Mecca, a report from the meeting of the Israeli Arab Monitoring Committee and details of the starting and ending times for the Ramadan fast. The broadcast's terminology, which included such phrases as "defense army" and "terror cell," are geared more toward Zionist than Arab ears.

Rinawi serves as chair of the committee for Arabic broadcasts in the authority's plenum. At one of the committee's meetings a few months ago, he lambasted Edmond Skhayyek, head of Israel Radio's Arabic department, whose ratings lag behind those of Radio Shams, the Arabic station in the North, because the latter is considered more reliable. Skhayyek stormed out of the meeting, and is not the only one who doesn't like the comparison.

"At the moment of truth, during the Second Lebanon War, Radio Shams expressed an unequivocal anti-Israel stance," says Shklar. "I will do everything in my power to ensure that does not happen in the IBA. Arabic TV will not be an arm of the Monitoring Committee and [Arab minority's political lobbying] organizations like Mussawa. Of course the station has to be pluralistic, and this will reflect the tensions in Arab society, but we will not serve any agenda that contradicts the definition of Israel as a Jewish democratic state."

"A few years ago," adds a senior employee at Arabic TV, "the Cable and Satellite Council issued a special tender, and Arabs had an opportunity to have their own designated channel. No one took advantage of that opportunity. They want to control Israeli TV from inside in order to have both the [broadcasting] platform and the jobs."

This attitude makes Rinawi laugh. He is a Christian Arab from Haifa and a communications lecturer at the College of Management.

"The Jews accuse me of being a member of Balad," he says, "and in the [Arab] sector, there are those who claim I belong to the Labor Party. If you check with the Interior Ministry, however, you will find that I have never voted."

What actually bothers you is that in the sea of hostile Arab channels, there should be one pro-Israel channel?

"There is no such thing. I do not want pro-Israel or pro-Arab. All I want is an objective channel that will give expression to the social-cultural experience of the Arab population in Israel, and will cover all the local news that interests citizens in Acre, Nazareth and Sakhnin, and which are not covered by Al-Jazeera or Yedioth Ahronoth."

During the Second Lebanon War, the news in Arabic on Hot provided a declared platform for Israeli Arabs who supported Hezbollah. How should the Arabic TV behave in a similar situation? "There is an Arabic expression," says Rinawi, "that you can't jump on a donkey from one side and immediately move over to the other side. Whoever belittles Israel's security - and it doesn't matter if he is an Arab or a Jew - has no right to citizenship. This may not sound nice to Arab ears, but the Arabs must internalize once and for all that they are Israeli citizens, and as such they have a responsibility that must also be expressed in the broadcasts. Even so, the Arab population must be given a chance to express itself, that the broadcast should not always be only news of government ministers' actions."

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