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The Nakdi Report ( he, מסמך נקדי, ' ) is a document outlining the ethical guidelines of
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
's broadcasting industry.


History

The Nakdi Report was published in 1995 as the Guidelines for Coverage of News and Current Affairs. It is named for its author,
Nakdimon Rogel Nakdimon Rogel ( he, נקדימון רוגל; 1925-8 December 2011) was an Israeli journalist, broadcaster and pioneer of Israeli television. Rogel authored the Nakdi Report (''Mismach Nakdi''), which acts as the ethical guideline for the Israel ...
. Patterned after the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
’s Editorial Guidelines (previously, the Producer Guidelines), the document consists of 161 clauses and contains a comprehensive code of ethics and practice for journalists working within the IBA. It is also applied to journalists in private broadcasting, though it is not legally binding. Since it was drawn up in 1972, the document has been revised four times - in 1979, 1985, 1995 and 1998 - and expanded to four times its original size.


Fairness and legal challenges

It is one of the few national ethics codes to retain a version of the
Fairness Doctrine The fairness doctrine of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a mann ...
. This is in addition to notions of impartiality drawn from similar European codes, which require the Authority itself to refrain from broadcasting editorials. Fairness, however, goes beyond mere impartiality: in order to "ensure the public’s right to receive full and reliable information alongside balanced and varied opinions", journalists are required to "solicit opposing opinion, fairly notify the public if comment was refused, and avoid becoming 'tools of response' for 'professional reaction teams.'" The requirements to ensure varied opinion - repeated elsewhere in the document as an enjoinder "that the pool of commentators must be varied", has caused several notable lawsuits to be filed against the IBA. Three in the 1980s were particularly notable: the first was against the landmark 1981 television miniseries ''The Pillar of Fire''. Brought by a group of Israelis of Sephardic descent who felt that the dramatised history of
Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
unfairly minimised their communities' contribution to the movement, the Supreme Court indicated that in this case fairness was "irrelevant"; broadcast could not be censored, but "another aspect of the issue should be presented". In 1982, a decision by the IBA to ban interviews with any supporters of the
Palestinian Liberation Organisation The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and sta ...
in the West Bank and Gaza was struck down; this case was the making of the now-legendary
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
lawyer Amnon Zichroni. And in 1984, Rabbi
Meir Kahane Meir David HaKohen Kahane (; he, רבי מאיר דוד הכהן כהנא ; born Martin David Kahane; August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-born Israeli ordained Orthodox rabbi, writer, and ultra-nationalist politician who serv ...
submitted that a similar ban on broadcasting his political statements be struck down. In a much-studied ruling that recognised racist speech was also
protected speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogn ...
, the
High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...
attempted to curtail the ''Zichroni vs IBA'' somewhat: Kach was permitted a "right of reply" if its positions were misrepresented, but it could not demand that its platform be broadcast, and nor could it demand the right of reply to criticism. After the 1996 revision appeared, a study by Yitzhak Roeh, a media studies academic at
HUJI Huji or HUJI may refer to: *Hebrew University of Jerusalem, university in Israel * Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Islamic fundamentalist organization *Hukou system (户籍), household registration system in mainland China and the Republic of China (Tai ...
called it an "anachronism" and "irrelevant" Since then, right-wing groups have frequently used the Nakdi Document as a basis for documentation of what they see as
media bias Media bias is the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of many events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening of J ...
; the two most high-profile incidents have been litigation surrounding the broadcast of Avishai Raviv's "swearing-in ceremony" with Eyal at Baruch Goldstein's grave, and the campaign to get rid of
Gabi Gazit Gabi Gazit ( he, גבי גזית; born November 11, 1947) is an Israeli journalist, television personality and radio host. Gabi Gazit (Gabriel Greenstein), born in Czechoslovakia to a religious family, grew up in Kfar Yehoshua, a moshav in the J ...
, whom they saw as serially breaking "the policies of public radio". Although at least one study has concluded that rather than being responses to political stimuli, the various revisions of the Document have resulted in a "crystallization and implementation of normative ethical guidelines for Israeli public broadcasting", criticism that the Document contains at least some inherent bias continues to be leveled. Recently, concern that the language expected of the Israeli media was not sufficiently neutral included the complaint that the phrase " East Jerusalem" were prohibited by the guidelines. There were also concerns that the report was not detailed enough. After Ariel Sharon's incapacitation, its ability to provide guidance balance between the private matter of his health and the public's right to know was found wanting. Similarly, the strictures against "melodrama" in factual broadcasting and against filming of funerals contrary to a family's wishesRogel, Nakdimon and Schejer, Amit. ''The Nakdi Document: Guidelines for Covering News and Current Affairs'', Jerusalem: Israel Broadcasting Authority, 1998; Clause 116 have been problematic: "Sterile coverage of terrorist attacks and bereavement will not get across the dimension we need to get - the emotional dimension," according to a television executive quoted in Ha'aretz.


References

{{Reflist Mass media in Israel Broadcast law Civil rights and liberties 1995 documents 1995 in Israel