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“What is wrong cannot be made right ”*? – Why has media reform been sidelined in the debate over “social justice” in Israel. Amit M Schejter Penn State and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Noam Tirosh Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. *Ecclesiastes 1:15. The summer of 2011.
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“What is wrong cannot be made right”*? – Why has media reform been sidelined in the debate over “social justice” in Israel Amit M Schejter Penn State and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Noam Tirosh Ben-Gurion University of the Negev *Ecclesiastes 1:15
Media system in transition • Magazines, book publishing, pay TV and online news portals demonstrate healthy competition • concentration in the newspapers and broadcast television markets seems to be declining • contemporary digital media is formulating into a vertically integrated, highly concentrated distribution system “the hegemony of old existing power centers is reproduced” (Caspi, 2011)
Highly controlled audiovisual sector • 85 percent of Israelis with above-average income can access the Internet from home; only 55 percent of those with below-average income can do the same(Dror & Gershon, 2012) • DD predictors: education, income, age, Jewish ethnic origin (Mizrachi, 2005) Digital divide persists
Has the need for media reform been presented as an issue in the social protest of 2011 and its aftermath? • If so, how? And if not, why?
Four policy-related by products of the social protest were studieג • The official government policy paper • The “alternative” protesters’policy report • The protesters’ “media initiatives” • The platforms of the political parties in the 2013 elections
The “official committee” was a “technological utopianist” and utilized “social media” to communicate with the public. • ““The new Israelis demand that their voices are heard, not as a one-time act during a demonstration, but in a structured and routine manner in the new “agora.” • Recommendations: None Findings
The “alternative committee” calls for “services to citizens.” No details, no discussion of the ills of the media/ICT system • The protesters stick to “alternative media” production. No activity created to propose media reform. • The parties discussed lowering mobile phones prices, using media more efficiently for external propaganda, media bias. Recommendations: None Findings
The neo-liberal takeover of the discourse • The protest movement as middle class • The inability to “see through” the media as a system, when using it as a tool • The disbelief in structural change