The question of what a “current affairs program” is expected to be at the center of the discussion in the request for approval of a class action lawsuit filed against Channel 14 alleging the inclusion of covert advertising in violation of the Second Authority Law.
About a year ago, the request was submitted on the grounds that the channel, which presents itself as “Israel’s news channel”, incorporates hidden advertising in a large part of the programs it broadcasts, including programs that are all hidden advertising. “This is an extreme case of the violation of the law on this issue, of a type that has not yet been seen in our places,” claims the lawsuit, which was submitted on behalf of the citizen Yuval Lev and through the lawyers Hagi Kalai, Ohad Rosen, Natan Schwarzman and Liad Wertzheiser.
The law of the second authority prohibits the integration of advertising content, among other things, in “news broadcasts” and “programs on the affairs of the day”, this is to avoid misleading the viewers. Lev claimed in his request that Channel 14 is breaking the law.
According to the request, Channel 14 integrates covert advertising in, among other things, the consumer program “Talking Technology”, the legal program “Outside the Protocol”, the morning program “Eden and Oded”, the consumer program “Open Account”, the legal program “Open Doors” and the real estate program “Now real estate”.
On the face of it, seven programs are a significant portion of Channel 14’s broadcast schedule: according to the current week’s broadcast schedule, the channel broadcasts between 9 and 11 programs per day (apart from repeat broadcasts during the night).
Every sane person knows what a morning program is
In response to the request, which was submitted through Meir Vaskar’s attorney, Eliad Avraham and Yigal Danino, it was claimed that the Israel Jewish Channel Company Ltd., which operates Channel 14, “was and is careful to comply with the provisions of the law, including advertising content rules.”
According to the response to the request, the programs of Channel 14 – which defines itself as “Israel’s news channel” – that incorporate covert advertising are not a news program or a “topics of the day” program, but “leisure programs” which include advertising content and are presented as such according to the rules of the Second Authority.
Host of the program “Out of Protocol” on Channel 14, Molly Ari (screenshot)
Thus, for example, in the case of the “off the record” trial program. The host of the show introduced it as “Now 14’s law and current affairs magazine”, but according to Channel 14 it is not a show about today’s affairs, but a leisure program that also incorporates information about today’s affairs. In July 2023, for example, the channel notes, the issue that was at the center of the public discourse was “legal reform”, and therefore it is only natural that the issue would come up in the program.
“It is implied from the applicant’s words,” Channel 14’s defense writes, “as if a lawyer who appears in the program (and whose appearance is considered advertising content) cannot speak about a relevant issue of interest to the public. Therefore, the whole essence of the advertising content rules is to allow professionals or business owners to talk about the service or product they offer, while providing viewers with interesting information about the field in which they are engaged.
Yitzhak Mirilshuili (photo: Ronan Goldman, CC BY-SA 3.0 license)
“For example, a lawyer can be a guest on the program and be interviewed on a certain legal issue while enriching the viewers with her knowledge, and pay the channel for hosting the program. This is permitted ‘advertising content’.”
As for the program “Talking Technology”, the channel claims that it is not a “journalistic investigative program” or a “news program”, but a program that “deals with innovations in the world of technology” and therefore “naturally, it is possible to combine there, subject to editorial considerations, relevant products, some of which are presented as advertising content”.
The program, it should be noted, opens with the promise of “a program that will bring you weekly updates on innovation, gadgets, technology and everything important to know about the future of all of us.”
The program “Eden and Oded” is defined on the Channel 14 website as a “varied current affairs program”, but the channel claims that “every reasonable person knows what a morning program is in the State of Israel, which usually deals with issues that are not ‘heavy’ or of great importance”. The channel adds that “the applicant may want to stick to the word ‘current affairs’ and turn the program into a news edition, thus establishing that advertising content cannot be incorporated into it, and it is not.”
Host of the program “Talking Technology” on Channel 14, Hadar Aviel (screenshot)
In addition, Channel 14 claims that “it is not impossible that the current lawsuit was also due to political considerations”, and this is because in the request for approval of the class action, it was stated that Channel 14 “‘receives’ the wall-to-wall support of the members of the Likud faction and the coalition (and the Prime Minister at their head)”.
Channel 14 has indeed received an extraordinary government protection umbrella since it was established and is still called Channel 20: the Netanyahu governments changed the media regulation laws in Israel for it, granted it benefits worth tens of millions of shekels and removed most of the restrictions imposed on competing channels.
However, the channel is still subject to the law that prohibits stealing the viewers’ opinions.
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