Scandals highlight Israeli leader's media obsession

JERUSALEM (AP):

Benjamin Netanyahu came to prominence as a star of the media age, an upgrade from older Israeli politicians in his telegenic poise, mastery of message, and gift for the sound bite in English and Hebrew. But those skills may have morphed into a darker obsession with controlling the media that now accounts for much of the scandal threatening his rule.

Despite unquestioned skill as a communicator, Netanyahu has long had a rocky time with Israel's mainstream media, which is pugnacious in general and traditionally more liberal than the nationalistic governments he has led. He has increasingly accused the media of a politically motivated "witch hunt" against him and his family, members of which have become embroiled in various scandals as well.

He has maintained this message even after Israeli police last week recommended Netanyahu be indicted for corruption and bribery in two cases, one of which involved hours of recordings in which he seemed to entertain offering preferential treatment to a newspaper publisher in exchange for favourable coverage.

And this week, new details about another investigation have emerged involving suspicions that the prime minister promoted regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel's Bezeq telecom company in return for puff pieces about his family in a highly popular subsidiary news site, Walla. Netanyahu has not yet been named as a suspect in the case.

Two close confidants have been arrested in connection with the probe, ex-journalists at Walla attested to pressure from above to refrain from negative coverage of Netanyahu and his family, and reports have surfaced of Netanyahu's wife Sara relaying requests to Bezeq officials.

Associates have long attested to the leader's thin skin and fixation on coverage.

"Netanyahu always wanted to control the media," former spokesman Aviv Bushinsky told Israel's Army Radio on Monday. "He said: 'If you don't have a media outlet, you can't operate as prime minister."