“What is Wrong Cannot Be Made Right”? Why Has Media Reform Been Sidelined in the Debate Over “Social Justice” in Israel?

When hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in the summer of 2011, protesting the high cost of living and demanding “social justice,” the ills of the media system including its concentration, the growing digital divide, and the implosion of public broadcasting were not made part of the social movement’s agenda. This study employs a justice-based theory for media, analyzing three types of “products” of the social movement: the unionization of media workers, the establishment of alternative media, and the reports recommending regulatory/institutional reform. We attempt to understand why media reform, an essential element without which social justice cannot be fully achieved, has been sidelined in the debate over the ways to achieve “social justice” in Israel.