In a surprising admission, Channel 10 military commentator and host of TV program "Friday" Alon Ben-David said that Channel 10 unfairly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife in an effort to demonstrate a free press following a Knesset vote to rescue the financially troubled channel, which resulted in a 30 percent purchase of the station by American Jewish businessman Ronald Lauder. "Sometimes, to be honest, they went overboard. When Lauder bought us, on principle on the day he became involved with the channel, we aired stories against Bibi [Netanyahu] that were not journalistically justified just to show that we were free [from shareholder intervention in news coverage]. In my opinion, we strayed from proper ethics at that point," said Ben-David. Ben-David, who revealed this at the Leadership and Excellence conference held by the faculty of business administration at the Academic Center for Law and Business in Ramat Gan, added that "to this day, I have never felt any flow of instructions or directions from the shareholders to any effect. And there were further examples of us taking jabs at the shareholders so that it wouldn't appear that we were doing their bidding." Regarding his own role in this and in the issue of following ethical guidelines, Ben-David said, "I am happy to say that I have never strayed from my ethical boundaries. As a rule in my life, I make a point not to do anything I will be ashamed of. "I have not been in a position that forced me to bend my ethics -- not for shareholders and not for the sake of a story." Channel 10 News has chosen not to respond to Ben-David's comments.
Channel 10 reporter admits unwarranted stories against PM
Channel 10 News military commentator Alon Ben-David says station's journalistic ethics compromised to show shareholders don't control content • Criticism of PM and his wife not journalistically justified • Channel 10 has not responded to comments.
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