Channel 1 (Israel)

Channel 1 combined news and current affairs with original productions, children's programs, entertainment, films, and sports.[5][6] It was the Israel Broadcasting Authority's flagship television station and broadcast mainly in Hebrew, while also carrying Arabic- and English-language programming.[6] Its place in the public broadcasting system distinguished it from commercial television: the channel did not air commercials, and its parent authority relied on a combination of licence fees and other funding mechanisms.[6][7]

For much of its history, the network occupied a central position in Israeli public life because viewers had few domestic television alternatives.[4] Educational and general-interest programming shared the single Israeli television channel from 1968 to 1986.[3] The evening news became a common point of reference, and television helped create a shared culture, particularly among new immigrants.[3] The subsequent arrival of commercial broadcasting and cable television changed that relationship, giving audiences a much wider range of channels and languages.[4]

The channel also belonged to a broader multilingual public broadcasting system.[8] In 2006, that system comprised Hebrew-language Israel Television, an Arabic-language channel, and Kol Israel radio, with television and radio serving as major sources of news and information.[8] Privately owned commercial television operated under a separate supervisory framework, the Second Television and Radio Authority.[8]

Most accounts date Israel Television's inaugural broadcast to May 2, 1968, when it carried the Independence Day parade in Jerusalem; a 2003 ynet history instead gives May 6.[1][9] The transmission described by the May 2 account began at 9:30 a.m. with a menorah, followed by an aerial view of Jerusalem; the parade coverage started at 9:40.[1] The event marked Israel's twentieth Independence Day and took place a year after the Six-Day War.[10]

Television arrived relatively late in Israel, partly because early leaders feared its cultural and economic effects.[3] Concerns included consumerism, the perceived hedonistic and bourgeois character of television, and the possibility that imported entertainment would weaken Hebrew's cultural position.[3] Public demand and the availability of television broadcasts from neighboring Arab countries nevertheless formed part of the context for establishing a domestic general-interest service.[3] Before its launch, Israeli television sets could receive educational broadcasts and national networks from neighboring Arab countries.[1] Jordan also began television service in 1968, and its transmissions could be received across much of Israel.[11]

The Israel Broadcasting Authority had been established under a 1965 law, which was amended in 1968 to include television transmission.[12] The new general-interest service was called Israel Television or General Television, distinguishing it from Israel Educational Television, which was operated by the Education Ministry.[1] Educational broadcasts had begun in 1966.[3] Communications scientist Elihu Katz led the new network, whose departments included Hebrew news and current affairs, Arabic news and current affairs, and Arabic programming.[1] Arabic programming was intended in part to attract Arab citizens who otherwise watched Egyptian and Jordanian television.[1]

Preparations for the first parade broadcast required rapid technical organization.[10] About three months before the event, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and Information Minister Israel Galili asked Katz and his deputy, Uzi Peled, to arrange coverage.[10] Peled negotiated in London for a broadcast van that Jordanian television was also seeking; it was purchased for £230,000 and became known as the “blue van.”[10] Positioned at French Hill, the van formed part of an operation that included a camera on a construction crane about 20 stories high and camera and microwave equipment operated by Paul Salinger from a balcony at Notre Dame of Jerusalem.[10]

The launch reached viewers well beyond the owners of television sets.[10] Israel had approximately 30,000 black-and-white sets, and crowds reportedly gathered around individual sets to watch the inaugural transmission.[10] Regular operation began in mid-1968 with a limited schedule: during the first year, broadcasts occupied four hours on each of three, and later four, weekday evenings.[13] Television was formally incorporated into the IBA in February 1969, when full broadcasting began; that month, coverage of Eshkol's funeral became the young news department's first televised state funeral.[9]

The first edition of Mabat LaHadashot, usually shortened to Mabat, was presented by Haim Yavin on July 23, 1968.[14] Its lead story concerned the hijacking of an El Al aircraft to Algeria.[14] Initially, Mabat consisted of two weekly editions lasting 40 minutes each.[9] Early material included reporting on the hijacking, an interview with Foreign Minister Abba Eban, a photographic album about Ammunition Hill, and a cartoon feature.[9] In one remembered exchange, a question put to Eban lasted three minutes, while his answer was simply “Yes.”[9]

Mabat LaHadashot, meaning “A Look at the News,” developed into a primetime review of the day's events and one of the most important programs of the single-channel era.[3] Its popularity produced a social convention that it was improper to telephone someone during the broadcast, and families gathered to watch Yavin's news at nine in the evening.[3] Yavin anchored evening news for about 40 years.[15] In 1977, announcing Likud's surprise election victory over the long-ruling Labor Party, he declared, “gvirotai ve-rabotai ma-hapakh”—“Ladies and Gentlemen, an upheaval.”[15] That announcement and the Eurovision victory of “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” remained prominent moments in later recollections of the channel's history.[16]

Channel 1 also provided a venue for political interviews beyond its main newscast.[17] Broadcasts on December 27, 1998, included appearances by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak.[17] Barak was also interviewed on the channel's program The Saturday Game, broadcast on December 26.[17]

Journalist Amir Bar Shalom began working at Channel 1 in 1994 and later served as a presenter, commentator, head of the military desk, and security analyst.[18] His presenting work included Good Morning Israel, the main weekend news edition Yoman, and Mabat.[18] From 2000 onward, his security and defense coverage encompassed the Israel Defense Forces, Defense Ministry, Shin Bet, Mossad, and other security bodies, through daily reports and live broadcasts.[18] He covered operations in Gaza and the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[18]

Bar Shalom was a chief broadcaster during Israel's disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria and during the Second Lebanon War.[18] His assignments also included work as a special correspondent in Europe covering ISIS attacks.[18] Channel 1's live news images could circulate beyond its intended audience: al-Manar sometimes pirated footage from both the public channel and commercial Channel 2 during suicide bombings and rebroadcast it in real time.[19]

About 70 percent of Channel 1's programming was locally produced in one overview of its operations.[6] Its output included dramas, comedies, talk and variety shows, documentaries, sports, news, and entertainment.[6] The main channel also carried children's programs and films.[5] In the second half of the 1990s, approximately an hour and a half of each evening's schedule was devoted to Arabic-language programming.[5] A second Israel Television channel, established in the early 1990s, broadcast by satellite.[5]

English-language television news began in October 1990, when the station was still known as ITV.[11] Introduced by IBA director-general Yosef Barel, the service remained under recurring threat before ending with the authority's closure.[11]

The public broadcaster's statutory remit encompassed society, education, Jewish heritage, Zionism, economics, culture, the arts, science, entertainment, and sports.[20] Its stated purposes included strengthening Israel's identity as a Jewish and democratic state, reflecting the country's work and achievements, encouraging good citizenship and equality, and providing reliable information and education.[20] This remit placed cultural and educational responsibilities alongside the provision of daily news and popular entertainment.[20]

Documentary programming also formed part of the channel's output.[6] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs discusses the 2013 broadcast of a television series edited from The Gatekeepers, arguing that former Shin Bet head and politician Yaakov Perry stood by his statements rather than modifying or withdrawing them.[21]

Broadcast materials were generally owned by the IBA unless otherwise stipulated.[20] The law required an organized archive of Channel 1's broadcast material and public access to it, with viewing charges determined without profit considerations.[20] The archive requirement accompanied a broadcasting role that extended across news, education, culture, and entertainment.[20]

Channel 1 initially broadcast in black and white, and the IBA removed the color signal from imported programs that arrived in color.[3] The policy was justified on the grounds that color television could encourage aspirations toward an unattainable Western standard of living.[3] Viewers with suitable sets could circumvent the suppression using a black-market device known as an “anti-eraser.”[3] A 1978 Supreme Court ruling in favor of color-set owners ended the color-erasure policy, although the transition to full color programming was not completed until 1983.[3]

Special broadcasts made color visible before the general conversion.[1][22] These included Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's 1977 visit, for which foreign broadcasters requested color, and the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem, following a request from the European Broadcasting Union.[22] Color was also allowed for the 1982 World Cup broadcasts and then suppressed again.[22] Israel passed up hosting the 1980 Eurovision contest in order to devote the money to the network's color conversion.[1]

The first color edition of Mabat aired on February 16, 1983.[23] Presenter Dalia Mazor recalled receiving instructions only hours beforehand to wear something colorful.[23] Her co-presenter Daniel Pe'er opened with, “Good evening and greetings. That's right, from tonight we're in color.”[23] Mazor was not permitted to comment aloud on the change and responded only with a nod.[23]

Commercial Channel 2 began broadcasting in November 1993, changing the environment in which Channel 1 operated.[4][11] By 1994, the long-established public channel was sharing its influence with both Channel 2 and cable television.[4] Israelis who had previously relied on a single channel broadcasting about seven hours a day could choose among 40 channels in more than a dozen languages.[4] Cable infrastructure was also reaching a large share of households.[4] The old Israel Television service became known as Channel 1 with the arrival of its commercial competitor.[1]

The change was reflected in its audience.[15] Channel 1's ratings had approached 90 percent in the 1970s, but its evening news audience later fell below 10 percent as competing channels attracted viewers.[15] Its institutional development formed part of a broader movement from government-controlled broadcasting toward a more varied and privatized media environment.[24]

The IBA was a public body established by law and modeled on the BBC.[25] Its framework combined general supervision by the Ministry of Education and Culture with operation under a self-governing board.[25] Funding included television-set licence fees, a levy on cars, public-service announcements, television underwriting, and radio advertising.[7] A 2017 report put the annual household television charge at NIS 345.[2]

In July 2014, the Knesset approved legislation to replace the IBA by 45 votes to 11, with one abstention.[26] The law provided for closing the IBA and Educational Television and replacing them with a new public broadcasting body.[26] Planned services included Hebrew, Arabic, and children's television channels and eight radio stations.[26] The legislation also abolished the television licence fee.[26] The successor corporation's funding was principally governmental, collected through a car levy.[7]

The transition timetable developed before broadcasting actually ended.[27] In March 2017, plans anticipated that Kan would begin television, radio, and digital services on April 30, with approximately 1,000 employees expected to lose their jobs when the existing broadcaster closed.[27] Those were advance plans rather than the eventual date of Channel 1's final transmission.[2][27]

Mabat broadcast its final edition on May 9, 2017, ending a news program that had run for 49 years.[28] Presenter Geula Even-Saar connected the decision to enabling the new public broadcaster to begin operating.[28] At the end of the program, staff gathered and sang Israel's national anthem.[28] The news team's final edition preceded the station's last transmission by several days.[29]

Channel 1 signed off at approximately 1:45 a.m. on May 14, after the Eurovision final.[2][29] Its farewell included a video of news staff singing the national anthem, followed by a still image reading, “Our broadcast has ended. 1968-2017.”[2] The shutdown ended a broadcasting history that had begun in May 1968 and followed arrangements established by the 2014 legislation, with most current-affairs broadcasts having stopped several days earlier.[1][29]

A November 1987 survey conducted during an IBA workers' strike found that 87 percent of the public watched television on an average weekday, while approximately 75 percent watched Mabat every day.[4] During the strike, 60 percent said the public lacked sufficient information about events, and 57 percent agreed that government was not receiving enough scrutiny.[4] The findings indicated the importance of television news to public information and debate during the single-channel era.[4]

Other polling showed television's growing place in the news habits of Jewish Israelis.[25] In 1988, 42 percent named television news as their best source of international news, compared with 27 percent for newspapers and 25 percent for radio.[25] In 1986, newspapers had led with 46 percent, followed by magazines at 26 percent and television at 19 percent.[25] The polling analysis connected television's increased importance to the visual impact of the Palestinian uprising on Israeli society.[25]

Television also altered patterns of leisure and sociability.[13] A study reported that 50 percent of respondents watched television on Friday night in 1970, compared with 5 percent a few months earlier.[13] Yet 23 percent watched with friends or neighbors, leading the researchers to conclude that viewing could coexist with, and perhaps encourage, social visits.[13] The study's pre-television leisure survey involved 1,478 Jewish adults in Haifa and Ashdod; a separate 1970 survey covered more than 1,700 adults in the four largest cities and their surroundings.[13]

Channel 1's cultural importance therefore involved both shared programs and shared routines.[3][13] The household gathering around Mabat, the convention against telephone calls during the news, and viewing with neighbors exemplified television's place in daily life.[3][13] From its beginning in 1968 until multichannel television expanded, the channel was a leading force in shaping Israeli culture.[20]

Friday-night broadcasting generated a significant religious-secular dispute as the service expanded.[13] Toward the end of 1969, the IBA announced a seven-day schedule.[13] Religious opponents argued that Sabbath television would imply official state sanction of Sabbath desecration; secular advocates maintained that a public authority should provide a full service and should not deprive most viewers of information or the value of their television sets.[13] Friday-night broadcasting was ultimately adopted through legal maneuvers, without resolving the underlying cultural disagreement.[13]

Political influence was another recurring issue.[25] Although the IBA's board ordinarily enjoyed broad discretion over content and presentation, that discretion faced greater interference during a turbulent period of Menachem Begin's premiership.[25] The inaugural parade broadcast also prompted accusations after it omitted images of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan on the honor stand.[10] Director Louis Lentin and the CBS crew did not include those shots despite requests from commentators Haim Yavin and Yoram Ronen; political columnists accused Eshkol and Galili of suppressing Dayan's image, while a television critic praised the broadcast as “flawless.”[10]

The abrupt end of Mabat drew criticism. Staff were told only minutes before the May 9 broadcast that it would be the final edition, leaving no opportunity for a planned retrospective; at the end, employees sang the national anthem, and some tore their clothes as a sign of mourning.[28]