Soon after Wednesday’s announcement by Defense Minister Israel Katz that he intends to abide by the recommendations of a committee to determine the fate of Army Radio and close it down as a news station, the ‘stake in the heart of democracy’ overreactions proliferated like hot cakes.
What nonsense.
Army Radio has been an anachronism for decades, in a country with so many media outlets that it’s impossible to escape from the news.
A station run by the army should be for the benefit of soldiers, connecting them, providing information, and offering quality entertainment programming. If it’s news and opinions they want, there’s nonstop 24 punditry at every end of the dial.
The campaign to close Army Radio in its current form, as just another news radio station leaning to the Left, has been spearheaded over the years by political leaders as varied as Ehud Barak and, most recently, Benny Gantz.
Army Radio reform: Save expense, focus on IDF programming
They were the forerunners of Katz’s decision, based on the conclusions of the professional committee.
“Army Radio was established by the Israeli government as a military station to serve as a mouthpiece and an ear for IDF soldiers and their families – not as a platform for voicing opinions, many of which attack the IDF and the IDF soldiers themselves,” said Katz.
In its recommendation, the committee suggested that the station be rebranded to preserve its unique identity as “the soldiers’ house” by maintaining its programming for IDF soldiers without engaging in current affairs content.
Rebranding Army Radio is not an effort to gut Israeli democracy; it’s a justified reform to save an unnecessary expense for a redundant service. The reform should have taken place years ago.
At least, the one saving grace of Army Radio, Galgalatz, is slated to survive and provide varied music to soothe the savage beast in us all. That’s a form of democracy we can all get behind.