In the early 2000s, the Israel Broadcasting Authority – now known as the Kan Public Broadcasting Corporation – "encouraged" Carmit Guy, one of its most talented anchors to retire. The official reason was budget cuts – which had nothing to do with the gap in her teeth. A few years later, the excellent Keren Neubach was fired from Kan's then-leading investigative journalism show over her "lacking on-screen appeal" – an argument that was detached from reality as there was nothing wrong with Neubach's on-screen appeal, other than the fact that – unlike many other talented anchors – she did not fit into the conventional form of synthetic beauty.
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The retirement of Kan's iconic news anchor Dalia Mazor was also rumored to be linked to her age and "on-screen appeal," all at a time when male anchors were allowed to not-so-gracefully age on screen before our very eyes.
During the height of the pandemic, a study by Professor Einat Lachover from Sapir Academic College and Sofia Haytin from the University of Haifa on women in the media at the time found that women represented only 11% of on-air commentators, compared to 24% in Western countries. This means that 89% of the pundits were, who spoke endlessly without telling us anything new.
Ageism – the discrimination of others based on age – and the exclusion of women "of a certain age" from Israeli prime-time is nothing new, especially at the Public Broadcasting Corporation. This made the resignation of lead anchorwoman Geula Even over her removal from the evening news, and the retirement of Channel 12's longtime journalist Rina Mazliah from her spot as anchor of Meet The Press after nine years, less than a surprise.
According to industry reports, Mazliah will be replaced by two men – journalists Amit Segal and Ben Caspit. This raises the question of conflict of interest: Even was allegedly removed over such conflicts in reporting on issues concerning her husband, New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar; but Segal's brother, Arnon, is a candidate for the Religious Zionist Party – and no one seems to think he should be expelled from prime-time television. Age-wise, Caspit is only a few years younger than Mazliah.
Kan's captains would surely argue that their decision is purely professional and on-point, except it's not. It is absolutely rooted in ageism and sexism.
Even was removed from prime-time news she is married to Sa'ar. This would probably not have happened had she been the Knesset candidate and he was the anchorman. Mazliah was expelled because the mix of her age, appearance, and opinions did not appeal to those running a boy's club.
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