“Their Deeds are the Deeds of Zimri; but They Expect a Reward Like Phineas”: Neoliberal and Multicultural Discourses in the Development of Israeli DTT Policy

Abstract

We examine how neoliberal and multicultural discourses were employed in the development of digital terrestrial television (DTT) policy in Israel as a case study of the deployment of media technology in a society that is characterized by deep social cleavages and rapid neoliberalization. We conduct a detailed analysis of official documents published over 6 years, including preparatory work, draft bills, parliamentary committee minutes, parliamentary plenary discussions, and the wording of the law enacted in February 2008. This study highlights how neoliberal multiculturalism operates as rhetoric that champions the cultural and economic rights of minorities, while masking policy stances that negate these rights. We demonstrate how this is linked to the composition of the channels eventually included on the DTT platform.The transition to digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting has been taking place worldwide since the mid-1990s. The technology enables the transmission of more channels than analog technology on a given portion of the spectrum. Picture quality is usually better, and the signal can include an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) and can also be encrypted. As Picard (2007) notes, more than in many other areas of broadcast regulation, the transition to digital television has taken on different formats in different countries and has been subject to very little, if any, transnational coordination of policy.In this study, we examine the forces that have shaped the development of DTT policy in Israel. We consider the discursive role of neoliberalism and multiculturalism, the emergence of a ''neolibral-multicultural'' discourse, and the structural role of clientelism in shaping this policy domain. We do so based on a detailed analysis of official documents published over 6 years, which include preparatory work, draft

Toward a Typology of Journalism Careers: Conceptualizing Israeli Journalists' Occupational Trajectories

“…Some corporate groups hold news‐related media assets within a more diversified set of holdings, creating dependencies between media firms and other financial and nonfinancial corporations (Agmon & Zadik, ). Thus, the Israeli media system's rapid commercialization and strong clientelist ties with political and economic elites are reminiscent of other Mediterranean media systems (Davidson & Schejter, ).…”

Outsourcing Postracialism: Voicing Neoliberal Multiculturalism inOutsourced

“…The consequences of this belief system mask and cultivate racism's continued role in domestic and international life (Goldberg, 2009). Neoliberalism's ubiquity assails progressive visions of multiculturalism that call for egalitarianism and open, respectful dialogue between cultures (Davidson & Schejter, 2011;Jones & Mukherjee, 2010). Neoliberal multiculturalism also seeks to reverse antiracist gains (Ono, 2010) as part of a larger conservative project to reduce the size of the state and its intervention in markets (Davidson & Schejter, 2011).…”

“…Neoliberalism's ubiquity assails progressive visions of multiculturalism that call for egalitarianism and open, respectful dialogue between cultures (Davidson & Schejter, 2011;Jones & Mukherjee, 2010). Neoliberal multiculturalism also seeks to reverse antiracist gains (Ono, 2010) as part of a larger conservative project to reduce the size of the state and its intervention in markets (Davidson & Schejter, 2011). By privatizing race into ''colorblindness'' and asserting that all people from the U.S. have equal opportunity to achieve the ''American Dream,'' neoliberal multiculturalism not only denies but attacks the need for antiracist policies (Esposito, 2009;Ono, 2010).…”

“…To understand the political economic context of Outsourced both as a text and as a narrative about global capitalism requires an understanding of neoliberalism and the strategic deployment of multiculturalism to justify inequalities created through global capitalism. Generally, scholars note that neoliberalism as an economic ideology argues for less government intervention in the affairs of capitalist institutions (Davidson & Schejter, ), aligning market logic as the primary way to protect individual liberties and the means to advance social equality (Melamed, ). Specifically, neoliberal advocates argue that the inefficiency and intervention of a powerful state constrains personal freedom (Jones & Mukherjee, ).…”

Berlusconi on Berlusconi? An analysis of digital terrestrial television coverage on commercial broadcast news in Italy

“…According to Galperin (2004), media policies in both the European Union and the United States of America have supported DTT for three main reasons: to revitalize the declining electronic sectors; to stimulate communication networks and services according to the Information Society policy agenda of the 1990s; and to make radio spectrum available to the fast-growing areas of mobile telephony and other wireless telecommunications services. As various studies have confirmed, the transition to DTT was defined by national governments and industries’ interests, rather than citizens’ needs (Baaren, 2011; Brown and Picard, 2005; Colombo, 2007; D’Arma, 2010; Davidson and Schejter, 2011; Klinger, 2011; Smith, 2007). This body of research is indispensable to understand the forces behind the shift from analogue to digital television.…”