The army has told the Israel Broadcasting Authority that it will no longer cooperate with television’s military cor respondent Dan Scemama and will cancel a scheduled interview program with outgoing Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. David Ivry if Scemama takes part.
The ban on the military correspondent — similar to an earlier attempt by Finance Minister Yoram Aridor to bar TV’s financial correspondent for “anti-Aridor sentiments” — followed a television report on soldiers serving in Lebanon.
Scemama’s program opened with a shot of soldiers singing a parody of a popular children’s song, with the words rewritten to say: “Airplane come down to us/Fly us off to Lebanon/We will fight for Sharon/And return home in a coffin.”
A majority of the government-appointed Broadcasting Authority Board joined in criticism of the broadcast. But the television and radio management has informed the army that it will not accept dictation from anybody as to which correspondent should cover any news story or take part in an interview program.
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