Election Committee Excludes Channel 14 from Broadcasts, Citing Technical Error
The Central Election Committee omitted Channel 14 from its voter information broadcast schedule for the upcoming Knesset elections, initially blaming the law before citing a technical error.
Central Election Committee Excludes Channel 14 from Broadcast Plan
An official document distributed to the members of the Central Election Committee ahead of the elections to the 26th Knesset outlined the broadcasting schedule for voter information and guidance. While Kan 11, Keshet 12, and Reshet 13 were repeatedly scheduled, Channel 14 was entirely omitted from the initial draft.
MK Amit Halevi was the first to notice the absence of the channel. In the committee's WhatsApp group, he demanded explanations: "Why only these channels and radio stations? Where is Channel 14?" Initially, the acting director-general of the committee, Dean Livne, gave a definitive response: "Because that is the law." Livne explained that radio broadcasts were restricted to "public radio only" and television to "channels under the Second Authority Law."
"Because that is the law," initially claimed the acting director-general of the committee, before the explanation quickly shifted to a technical error.
Halevi pressed further: "I didn't understand. Is Channel 14 not under the Second Authority Law?" MK Erez Malol also joined in, pointing out the exclusion from the awareness broadcasts.
From 'The Law' to a 'Technical Glitch'
The explanation quickly shifted once lawmakers demanded clarity. Livne announced that a corrected framework would be sent within minutes and clarified that "there was a technical glitch in the file." Thus, the justification transformed from a legal requirement to a mere technical mistake.
The original framework spanned two waves of broadcasts during October, allocating minutes daily for voter information while systematically featuring channels 11, 12, and 13, without Channel 14. Following the intervention of MK Halevi, the committee stated that a corrected file was sent, which also included other omitted channels such as Channel 9 in Russian, Makan in Arabic, and the Music Channel.
