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When TV ratings serve politics: A grave threat to privacy
Under the guise of transparency, a law to take control of viewing data will give the government dangerous power over the public discourse

Illustrative: Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi heads into a cabinet meeting in the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, September 10, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90, via The Times of Israel)
Israel’s newly proposed “Ratings Bill” has stirred a potent mix of fear, frustration, and déjà vu. Billed as a transparency measure, it hands over control of television ratings data – long managed by a neutral, independent entity – to the Minister of Communication. By taking an apparently objective metric and politicizing it, this bill risks transforming every living room in Israel into a monitored space, with viewing habits fed directly into government data banks. This is not just a bureaucratic shuffle, but rather a shift that peeks behind our screens to see exactly what we’re consuming – and what the government might want us to consume instead.
The attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, minced no words, describing this legislative push as “a severe and disproportionate violation of privacy rights.” For her office, it isn’t just a matter of transparency gone awry but a constitutional threat, an intrusion that potentially undermines freedom of expression, the right to know, and the freedom of the press itself. The plan, she argues, “collects all viewing data from the public forcibly” without informed consent, creating “a chilling effect” where the supposedly open airwaves turn into carefully orchestrated, politically influenced streams.
Let’s examine the staging of this “transparency” move. The legislation mandates that viewership numbers be displayed in real-time during prime-time hours, presenting instant data on who’s watching what. On its surface, this seems harmless enough, even insightful. But the fine print goes further, authorizing the government to choose which rating system is used, effectively putting a hand on the scales. In practical terms, this new “transparency” invites governmental influence to cast a shadow over what, when, and how news and entertainment are presented, subtly pressuring networks to cater to those in power by choosing content that pleases the state. For channels vying for airtime or funding under these new guidelines, the pressure to conform may prove difficult to resist. This amounts to the government, cloaked in the guise of “transparency,” seizing control of both the remote and the narrative.
The supposed purpose of the Ratings Bill sounds deceptively virtuous, yet it mirrors tactics observed in other “media reforms” worldwide that have aimed to skew the public discourse. Critics have compared it to policies in countries where the state quietly, persistently seeks to use data not to reflect public interests but to direct them. Israel has not traditionally been such a country, priding itself on a robust, diverse media landscape where viewers hold the power of choice, and content is not confined to state-approved messaging. But this legislation could mark a watershed moment, a shift from a watchdog media to one with a master. For many, it evokes memories of older, darker eras of censorship.
Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi has dismissed these concerns, deriding them as “unfounded PR spin” from the Attorney General’s office. “Her opinion,” he quipped dismissively, “is worth as much as a garlic peel.” For Karhi and for many of his allies backing this shift, such privacy risks are mere technicalities to be “addressed in committee discussions.” This blithe disregard for professional, ethical red flags further highlights the dismissal of checks and balances crucial to safeguarding media independence.
Why the push for this kind of control, and why now? Some suggest it reflects the Prime Minister’s long-standing fixation on Israel’s media landscape, which has found many expressions over the years. Even from the early days of his political career, Netanyahu has maintained a keen focus on media influence, reportedly pressing past Ministers of Communication to steer networks in his favor and supporting legislation to ease the path for sympathetic channels. This Ratings Bill appears as yet another chapter in his well-documented preoccupation with monitoring, shaping, and ultimately mastering public opinion through media manipulation. Minister Karhi’s recent moves further this agenda, advancing laws that open doors for state influence over public broadcasting, undermining independence under the banner of reform.
But the Ratings Bill is no reform. It’s a thermometer designed to measure only the climate that best suits those in power, deliberately rigged to avoid revealing the fever of discontent simmering beneath the surface. Israel deserves better – a media that serves the people, a public discourse that reflects genuine choice, and a government that respects privacy as a cornerstone of democratic freedom. This bill, which strips back the curtain not to reveal truth but to stage it, should be shelved. We need an Israel where the state doesn’t monitor what we watch or twist our screens into one-way mirrors reflecting only the images they prefer us to see.
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