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Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 11:28 PM
Subject: Israel’s media laws draconian
Israel’s media laws draconian
Zimbabwe’s media laws have been denounced by critics of Government including Britain and the United States as draconian and undemocratic despite the fact that the laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act were modelled along the same lines as those in democracies such as Sweden.
The critics are surprisingly silent on real draconian and undemocratic laws such as the one in operation in Israel, which is supported by both Britain and the United States.
Although AIPPA was formulated to regulate the Press and journalists as the media needs regulation given the way it affects citizens and institutions in a country, Government’s critics have argued that the law was harsh and meant to muzzle the Press.
Under AIPPA, journalists and media houses are required to be accredited and registered with the Media and Information Commission.
In the event that the commission for any reason turns down a journalist’s or media house’s application for accreditation or registration, recourse can be sought through the courts of law.
But in Israel the State, through the Government Press Office, has the final decision on accreditation of journalists.
Below we reproduce a Sapa-DPA story which appeared in The Citizen of South Africa on Wednesday this week giving details of the draconian regulations concerning the accreditation of journalists in Israel.
JERUSALEM.
Organisations representing local and foreign reporters in Israel have issued sharp protests in wake of new government regulations concerning the accreditation of journalists, the Israeli Ha’aretz daily reported yesterday (Tuesday).
The regulations, announced on Sunday by the Government Press Office (GPO), would require journalists to undergo security vetting by the Shin Bet Internal Security Service, although GPO director Danny Seaman said he would have the final decision on accreditation.
To date, only Palestinian journalists have to undergo checks by the Shin Bet. The GPO has in the past cancelled Press credentials of most of the Palestinians working for the foreign media.
The Israel Press Council, which oversees the media in Israel, said that while Israel has valid security concerns, it was "unacceptable" that security services determine who would or would not receive accreditation as a journalist.
Calling on the government to reconsider the decision, the Foreign Press Association said in a statement that while it understood Israel’s security problems, there was no evidence journalists posed a risk and the new policy would give authorities "unreasonable veto power" over who could serve as a foreign correspondent.
The new measure "constitutes an utter violation of freedom of the Press and the dramatic reversal of the openness that has prevailed in Israel for decades," the association said in a statement.
Citing security concerns, Seaman said he decided to give a list of more than 17 000 accredited journalists to the Shin Bet for security checks, from January 1.
"I am sure that they (the Shin Bet) have the intelligence information regarding people who could present a danger . . . and therefore they have to give their opinion," he told Israel Radio.
In addition to undergoing Shin Bet vetting, the new regulations require correspondents to produce notarised affidavits that the information they provided is correct and will also have to pay a few for the application and on receipt of the card.
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