Democracy and Free Media in Israel
- פורום מדעני.ות מדינה למען הדמוקרטיה הישראלית
- לפני 4 ימים
- זמן קריאה 2 דקות
By: State Scientists for Israeli Democracy
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February 17, 2026
The proposed sale of Channel 13, one of Israel’s principal commercial television broadcasters, has emerged against the backdrop of an overt effort by the government to curtail freedom of press, weaken separation of powers and undermine Israeli democracy.
Encroachments upon free media are often carried out under the guise of ostensibly neutral economic transactions within the framework of the free market. Yet the media is not merely an economic commodity, nor solely a private business sector. A free media presupposes dispersed ownership of media outlets and the avoidance of conflicts of interest. The businessman Patrick Drahi, who seeks to acquire Channel 13, already owns several significant media platforms in Israel, including the news channel i24NEWS, the news websites Kikar HaShabbat and Srugim, and holds a controlling stake in the cable company HOT. In a democratic system, state authorities bear responsibility for promoting diversified media ownership and safeguarding both free media and freedom of press, particularly in an election year. When the executive branch advances measures that may constrict the free media market, it is incumbent upon the Israeli Competition Authority to exercise its statutory powers in order to preserve this fundamental democratic principle.
The proposed sale of Channel 13 does not occur in a vacuum. It must be understood within its broader institutional and legislative context. At present, the government is advancing a bill to establish a new regulatory authority intended to replace the existing Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council. According to the proposal, which has passed its first reading, the new body would be headed by a politically appointed council effectively controlled by the government, with powers that would allow it to disadvantage governmental critics and reward political allies. The bill appears to conflict with existing legislation designed to safeguard principles of good governance and free media in Israel, as reflected in a letter dated 16 February 2026 from the advisory team to the Knesset’s Special Committee on the Communications Law, which is responsible for promoting the legislation.
This bill forms part of a broader legislative initiative intended to diminish democratic governance. Since the formation of the current governing coalition in December 2022, its members have introduced twenty-six communications-related bills that were identified by the Forum of Political Scientists for Israeli Democracy as anti-democratic in nature. Of these, three have been enacted into law, including measures granting regulatory leniencies to Channel 14 (known for its right-wing news and analysis) and expansion of the Minister of Communication’s power with respect to foreign media outlets.
Undermining free press constitutes one of the initial stages in what scholars describe as a “democratic backsliding” playbook –a set of legal and constitutional reforms designed to weaken democratic institutions and facilitate the consolidation of authoritarian rule, as occurred, for example, in Hungary under the Orbán government. In recent years, numerous countries have experienced processes of democratic erosion and transition toward more authoritarian forms of governance—not through military coups, but through ordinary legislative means aimed at curtailing the separation of powers and weakening mechanisms of oversight over the executive branch. Such processes commonly include
impairing judicial independence, politicizing the civil service, constraining civil society, restricting free media and academic freedom, and undermining human rights and the separation of religion and state. In 2024, Israel’s democracy rating by V-Dem was downgraded from a “liberal democracy” to an “electoral democracy.” Continued harm to free media in Israel would represent a further, and potentially decisive, step in the erosion of Israeli democracy.
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