Broadcast of all politicians' speeches banned until the election is over
The chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubenstein, this morning banned the broadcast of events at which politicians give speeches or make announcements until after the election tomorrow. The order was published after the chairwoman of the Labor Party, MK Shelly Yacimovich, announced she was holding a press conference to respond to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to appoint Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon (Likud) to the post of chairman of the Israel Lands Authority.
When the Likud campaign headquarters learned of Yacimovich's intention to hold the press conference, they asked Rubenstein to intervene and ban the broadcast. Labor claimed there was no comparison between the press conference Netanyahu held on Sunday, which Rubenstein also banned from being broadcast, and Yacimovich's press conference in response.
"Coverage of the press conference without broadcasting it live is completely legitimate and is in no way similar to the unrestrained expropriation of the screen that Netanyahu wanted to do yesterday during prime time," Labor wrote to Rubenstein. In the end, Rubenstein decided to ban such broadcasts as a matter of principle, but to allow reporters to cover them.
In both cases, Rubenstein said the press conferences were illegal electioneering, which is banned in the media close to the election.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israeli-elections-2013/israeli-elections-news-features/broadcast-of-all-politicians-speeches-banned-until-the-election-is-over.premium-1.495387
Pulled from google, truncated after first time.
