Israeli Haredi Media and the `Female Factor`: the Case of Kol Barama Radio Station

Israeli Haredi Media and the `Female Factor`: the `Kol Barama` radio station case­­­

An appeal in Israel to the Second Television & Broadcast Authority, and appeals to the courts, about Radio Kol Barama`s failure to have women broadcasters is a cardinal test of the level of freedom of a radio station, the interests of minority religious audiences, and the powers and responsibilities of the supervising public broadcasting authority. Radio Kol Barama was created to provide radio for the Haredim audiences whose needs were not fulfilled by mainstream radio stations. Yet, it is subject to a supervising authority (the Second Television and Radio Authority). The affair touched a lightening rod, given the acute sensitivity within Haredi communities to appearances of women in public contexts like the media. In Israel minority interest stations require to conform programme content to standards set by the supervising authority. Radio Kol Barama has, therefore, been obligated to find ways and means – such as broadcasting women speaking but not women singing – as a modicum between halakhic (Jewish religious law) restrictions on hearing women singing, on the one hand, and respecting the status of women in the modern world, on the other hand. In the long-term, the outcome of the case could have repercussions well beyond the specific case of Radio Kol Barama and bring an improvement in the status of women throughout Haredi journalism.

Bibliography: Yoel Cohen, God, Jews & the Media: Religion & Israel`s media, New York & London, Routledge Publishers 2012