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Channel 14 (Israel)

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"Now 14" redirects here. For the pop compilation albums, see Now That's What I Call Music! 14.

Channel 14
ערוץ 14‎
CountryIsrael & International
Broadcast areaNational & International
Programming
Language(s)Hebrew
Picture formatHDTV 720p
Ownership
OwnerJewish Israeli Channel Ltd
History
Launched30 June 2014 (2014-06-30)
ReplacedBig Brother Live
Former namesHeritage Channel
Channel 20
Links
Websitewww.now14.co.il
Availability
Terrestrial
DigitalChannel 14
Streaming media
Official websiteLive stream

Now 14 (Hebrew: עכשיו 14), colloquially referred to as Channel 14, is an Israeli right-wing and conservative commercial television channel and news site. The channel broadcasts news, political commentary, satire and talk shows, all of which are presented from a right-wing perspective. The controlling shareholder of the channel is Yitzchak Mirilashvili.[1]

History

Channel 20 started broadcasting on 30 June 2014.

In 2021, it was announced that Channel 20 would be rebranded to Now 14 (Hebrew: עכשיו 14) and subsequently moved to the 14th slot on TV receivers, right after Reshet 13. The move happened on 28 November that year.[citation needed]

The channel moved studios a couple times, and their most recent move was on 28 November 2021, when they moved to their current studio in Modi'in.[citation needed]

The channel primarily features news programming and, occasionally, religious programming, though the quantity of religious programs has been on a decline as the channel shifted to a more news-oriented approach over the years.[citation needed]

The most popular show on the channel is The Patriots, which features a panel of journalists and other activists discussing issues in the world, as well as commenting on social media posts from various people, and everyone is given a limited time to give an opinion. When the time is over, a buzzer is activated.[citation needed]

Now 14's main news show is broadcast at 19:30 Israel time since 28 November 2021, unlike the other big three channels which broadcast their main news show at around 20:00.[citation needed]

Controversy

Channel 14 is often defined as politically biased towards the Israeli right-wing and far-right[2][3][4][5][6] and is often favourable towards Benjamin Netanyahu.[7][2] Knesset members from the Likud recommended watching Channel 14 because "it is a right-wing channel that appeals to a right-wing audience".[8]

In September 2024, three Israeli human rights organizations, Zulat, Hatzlacha, and The Democratic Bloc, wrote a letter regarding statements made on the channel, including 50 statements supporting genocide in Gaza and 150 statements calling for war crimes such as indiscriminate killing, mass deportation and starvation. The letter requested a criminal investigation and was sent to the Attorney General of Israel and the Second Authority for Television and Radio in Israel.[9][10][11]

Controversy inside Israel

The channel caused much controversy in Israel over the years. In the first years of its existence, the channel excluded Reform and Conservative Jewish religious movements from the channel's broadcasts.[12] The channel was sued for a sum of several hundred thousand shekels for breaking the Israeli law: Prohibition of Discrimination in Products, Services and Entry into Places of Entertainment and Public Places Law, 2000.[13]

On 11 November 2018, the channel aired an interview with Yitzhak Gabbai, who was convicted of setting fire to a Jewish/Arab bilingual school in Jerusalem and served three years in prison. The interview received condemnations from the many figuries in the Israeli public, and as a result the channel itself and the interviewer Boaz Golan apologized for the incident.[14] Following the interview, the Second Authority for Television and Radio started a violation procedure against the channel.[15]

In May 2021, Following a rocket attack in northern Israel, the reporter Kobi Finkler said on live: "One (missile) fell on a soccer field in a large Arab settlement and very unfortunately it did not result in mass casualties there". In response, he was fired by the channel.[16]

On 30 May 2022, the printed magazine of "Now 14" published an article entitled "LGBTistan: This is how the revolution is organized that exploits the LGBT and eats its children", by Gali Bat Horin. On 28 March 2023, the magazine "Now 14" published an article entitled "This is how young people in Israel are led to castration and surgeries following the transgender ideology".[17][18]

On 21 February 2023, during the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests, channel commentator Ari Shamai said on the program "The Patriots" that "these people (protestors) (...) are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Belial (Devil of the Hebrew Bible), who refused to fight against the Nazis in Warsaw Ghetto." On the following days, he was suspended from participating in the program.[19] Later on, Uri Shamai called for the release of the Jewish terrorist Yigal Amir who was convicted and senntenced for the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.[20] On the following days, Israeli protest movements arose calling to stop advertising on the channel.[21]

On 19 September 2024, the channel aired an "exclusive recording" of former Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, saying: "we can debate a Palestinian state in 6 years or 8 years". The channel published the recording under the title "Bennett does not rule out a Palestinian state".[22] In response, Bennett said: "A complete fake again. Channel 14 should send its commentators and reporters to English lessons in Berlitz".[23][24]

Controversy outside Israel

During the Israel–Hamas war, the channel published a number of articles that turned out to be incorrect.[25]

In 2024, some of the channel members suggested that Israel should disregard claims that it is contravening international law, especially in the field of military conduct in wartime, and should stop letting the United States push it around on issues on which the two states disagree.[4]

The Logically Facts fact-checking site reported in 2024 that,

According to The Times of Israel, the "incendiary right-wing" news broadcaster Channel 14 was a "largely dismissed bit player in the media industry" until its viewership grew exponentially in 2023, which sparked concern due to its "repeated scandals" and charges of "pro-Netanyahu propaganda." The channel has been described as "the Israeli answer to Fox News" by Ayala Panievsky, a research fellow at Cambridge University and City University of London specializing in right-wing populism, who, in a 2023 opinion piece in the Israeli news outlet Haaretz, wrote that Channel 14 is "propagandistic."[26]

In October 2024, the channel sparked intense criticism among Iraqi leaders for showing a graphic implying that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's senior Shia cleric, could be targeted for killing alongside leaders from Hamas and Hezbollah.[27][28]

Staff

See also

This article is part of a series on
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  • List of television channels in Israel

    • References

    1. ^ Billionaire unjustly jailed in Putin’s Russia to represent Jewish ex-Soviet communities Archived 24 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine, JTA, 26 July 2017
    2. ^ a b Kershner, Isabel (13 September 2023). "An Israeli TV Channel for Netanyahu Fans Rapidly Gains Influence". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 16 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    3. ^ Breiner, Josh (16 April 2024). "Israeli prisons swap sports channel with right-wing affiliated channel". Haaretz. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    4. ^ a b "Right-wing Israeli TV channel boots pundit for calling to free Yitzhak Rabin's assassin". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 1 August 2023. Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    5. ^ Nechin, Etan (9 January 2024). "The far right infiltration of Israel's media is blinding the public to the truth about Gaza". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    6. ^ "On Israeli television, the manufacture of heroes and the justification of revenge on Gaza". Le Monde.fr. 20 October 2023. Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    7. ^ "Israel's Channel 14 has a lot of problematic content - opinion". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 30 April 2024. Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    8. ^ "196 דקות בשבעה חודשים: נתניהו מתראיין רק בערוץ 14". העין השביעית (in Hebrew). 14 June 2023. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    9. ^ David Cohen, Ido (24 September 2024). "Human Rights Groups: Israel's Far-right Channel 14 Has Called for Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza More Than 50 Times". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 25 September 2024.
    10. ^ Wilkins, Brett (25 September 2024). "Rights Groups List 50+ Calls for Gaza Genocide on Israel's Channel 14". Common Dreams. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
    11. ^ "Israel's Channel 14 aired more than 50 calls for genocide in Gaza". New Arab. 25 September 2024.
    12. ^ גלזר, הילו (30 July 2015). "איך ערוץ 20 מסרב לתכנים רפורמיים ומסורתיים". הארץ (in Hebrew). Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    13. ^ "ערוץ 14 יפצה את הרפורמים והקונסרבטיבים". www.news1.co.il (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 6 June 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    14. ^ ""מביש ומחליא": עמית סגל ואראל סג"ל נגד ערוץ 20 - וואלה תרבות". וואלה (in Hebrew). 11 November 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    15. ^ ביין-לובוביץ', ענת (13 November 2018). "הליך הפרה נגד ערוץ 20 בגין הראיון עם מצית ביה"ס הדו-לשוני". Globes. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    16. ^ בוקר, רן (19 May 2021). "הכתב הצבאי אמר "נפלה רקטה ביישוב ערבי, לצערנו אין המוני הרוגים" - ופוטר מערוץ 20". Ynet (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    17. ^ "שוב, מגזין ערוץ 14 בשער הומופובי; חושן: "לא ניתן לאף אחד לפגוע בנוער הגאה" - וואלה ברנז'ה". וואלה (in Hebrew). 28 March 2023. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    18. ^ בת חורין, גלי. "להט״ביסטאן: כך מתארגנת המהפכה שמנצלת את להט"ביה ואוכלת את בניה | המגזין". ערוץ 14.
    19. ^ "ארי שמאי באמירה קשה: זו הסיבה שהושעה מערוץ 14". Ice (in Hebrew). 23 February 2023. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    20. ^ כהן, עידו דוד (30 July 2023). "ארי שמאי ב"הפטריוטים": "הגיע הזמן לשחרר את המתנקש יגאל עמיר"". הארץ (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 25 March 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    21. ^ Brink, Yaron Ten (1 August 2023). "עם ערוץ 14 אין מה להתווכח. את ערוץ 14 צריך לסגור. וזה מה שנעשה". עם ערוץ 14 אין מה להתווכח. את ערוץ 14 צריך לסגור. וזה מה שנעשה | טיים אאוט (in Hebrew). Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    22. ^ Langerman, Nati. "בנט לא פוסל מדינה פלסטינית: "יכולים לדון על זה בעוד 6 שנים"". Channel 14.
    23. ^ "ערוץ 14 פתח את המהדורה עם פייק מוחלט על בנט. אפילו אנגלית הם לא מבינים שם?! - וואלה תרבות". וואלה (in Hebrew). 20 September 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
    24. ^ "נפתלי בנט תוקף את ערוץ 14: "פייק מוחלט"". סרוגים (in Hebrew). Retrieved 25 September 2024.
    25. ^ "במציאות האלטרנטיבית של ערוץ 14, שקמה ברסלר וג'ו ביידן הם האויב האמיתי". TheMarker. Archived from the original on 20 February 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
    26. ^ Social media users (7 March 2024). "No, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari has not announced his resignation". Logically Facts. Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
    27. ^ "US slams 'suggestion of targeting' Muslim scholar al-Sistani by Israeli TV". Al Jazeera. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
    28. ^ Karaalp, Haydar. "Iraq condemns Israeli media for listing top Shia cleric as target". Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
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