Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of enacting political retribution against Channel 10, telling Army Radio on Tuesday that "Netanyahu believes in propaganda and not diplomacy, so he tries to control the press."
The Knesset Economics Committee decided on Tuesday to table a request by Channel 10 to postpone its debt payments to the government for one year. A postponement would throw the channel a financial lifeline, and prevent its possible closure.
"He comes from an ideology that says the media is against him, so the way to avoid criticism against him and his statecraft is to control the media and turn it into a mouthpiece," Livni said.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said that the station should be able to stand alone. "Not everything should be put on the government's shoulders," he said, according to Army Radio.
A front-page story in Haaretz on Monday quoted unnamed senior sources at Channel 10 as claiming that forces within the Prime Minister’s Office, unhappy with the investigative findings of political reporter Raviv Druker, were working toward having him fired.
A hot denial was given to Haaretz by the Prime Minister’s Office.
According to the report, two senior members of Channel 10 received intimations from political figures in the Likud suggesting that the Knesset Economics Committee would be inclined to be more helpful if Druker were to be given his marching orders. -Jerusalem Post
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