editorial: In a severe and unusual audit report, the municipal auditor presented the conduct of Eliran Tal in his position as head of the spokesmen and publicity department of the municipality of Haifa, starting from the stage of his recruitment to the position, through various decision-making processes and ending with failures in proper administrative procedures. The full report is provided for your perusal at the end of the column.
Back in November 2021, attorney Lior Datz sent a detailed letter to attorney Yamit Klein and the chairman of the committee for preventing conflicts of interest of elected officials in local authorities. In the letter, attorney Datz details some of the things that were later detailed in the auditor's report. The detailed letter is here. "Only" 3 years passed and the audit report was published.
* Full Disclosure: Ron Aviv is a lawyer with an independent office in Haifa, who serves as an external legal advisor to the Hai Pa system.
introduction
There is a well-known rule according to which it is not right for a doctor to analyze himself, it is not appropriate for a lawyer to represent himself, it is not appropriate for a psychiatrist to diagnose himself, and so on - because the personal touch may disrupt professional judgment.
The same is true for media, which is required for a subject that also concerns itself, directly or indirectly: how can a journalist maintain objectivity? How can we prevent the feelings created by personal involvement from harming the purity of the coverage? How will we ensure that the journalistic report remains fair and correct?
The Chai Pa system also, when it came to cover the latest development in the Aliran Tal affair, found itself in a similar place; However, despite the personal interest, I also have an obligation to bring the news to the public's attention, which cannot be ignored.
Therefore, instead of coverage by a journalist from within the editorial board, this opinion column will appear before you, which seeks to refer to the case through the eyes of an outsider - it is true that I serve as Hai Pa's legal advisor, but I am not part of the editorial board, and despite my daily work with words, I am not a journalist - neither is my style Different, and my apologies for that to the readers in advance.
The background to the affair - where, why, and who
The Haifa metropolis has almost 1.2 million inhabitants, about a quarter of them - almost 300,000 people - live in the city itself, which is the third largest in Israel, and is headed by a municipality, which employs about 5,000 people.
Naturally, the operations of an authority of this magnitude also generate a lot of diverse information, that it is necessary to convey it to the general public, and to distribute it through the media - and this task is entrusted to the department for spokespersons, information and publicity.
In February 2020, a journalist named Eliran Tal, who previously worked in various media, including Channel 20, as well as a local media website called "News Haifa and the Kiryat" was chosen to head this department. The Haifa Municipality auditor points out that while running for office, Tal continued to cover the Haifa Municipality, and the work of its head at the time, Dr. Einat Kalish Rotem. Quite a few complaints were already heard about Tal's "caressing coverage" of her, and about Rih of alleged corruption, arising from the combination of the sympathetic coverage, with the election of the "caressing journalist" to the coveted position of the municipality's spokesperson.
Of course, a puzzle immediately arises on the practical level: what is the difference between a person who was a political-political reporter, and the municipal field? Well, every person is allowed to expand his horizons and diversify his skills.
But an even greater puzzlement arises in the areas of proper management, and cleanliness of hands: what are the management skills and management experience that a journalist has? Were relevant qualifications for the position even required in the tender, and were they tested before being appointed? Presumably so, but probably the right question is not if the things were done, but in what order: were the criteria required for the position examined first, and then was it examined whether the candidate meets them? Or, God forbid, we first check what the candidate has in his case, and then set the criteria accordingly?
Although I will suggest to the readers not to rely on my words, but to read for themselves what was written at the time in open sources (which, among other things, are mentioned under The entry "Aliran Tel" on the Wikipedia website) - after all, that's not what this column is about, and I wouldn't have even bothered to mention the matter at all, if it weren't for the fact that these days this very issue, in all its severity, was at the center of the legal, political and public stage: "Can sympathetic journalistic coverage of a public figure constitute bribery?"
Time will tell, the Netanyahu-Bezek-Elovitch-Walla case, known as "Case 4000", has not yet been decided.
Who are the media in the Haifa metropolis?
In the narrow framework given to me, I will not enter into a discussion about the dying of the print, nor the overwhelming victory of the digital press over the paper press, and I will focus only on what is in the palm of each person's hand: Internet news sites, several of which operate in the Haifa metropolis, including "News Haifa and the Kiryat" , which we mentioned earlier as Tal's previous workplace, in the period before his appointment to the high position of municipal spokesman Haifa.
Objective traffic data
Another news site operating in the northern virtual space, of course, lives here, and even though my book of Proverbs commands that "a foreigner shall praise you and not your mouth", then even if I am not a "foreign entity", I am certainly an "external entity", and happily put before objective data (of the rating company the global SimilarWeb) in relation to the traffic data - that is, the number of visits by surfers to the various news sites, during the period given
I won't bore you with mountains of data, and those who ask are welcome to look at the link provided below, and I will only give as an example current data for last November (You can view the data here), from which it appears that out of approximately 2.3 million visits to the local news websites, the volume occupied by Hai Pa during that month of November 2024 is 55.8%, while from our information "News Haifa and Kiryat" occupies a volume of only 2.4%, and in numbers - approximately one million three hundred A thousand times in the past month, residents read digital news on the Hai Pa website, compared to less than 56,000 hits at Tal's former employer, the speaker.
Of course, the updated admissions figures quoted, as mentioned for the month of 11/24, are late for the period relevant to the municipal auditor's report for 2023, and the full data about news sites in the Haifa area can be found here - in the publications of the world ranking website SIMILARWEB.
Where does the municipality of Haifa advertise?
It is natural and logical that the municipality wants its publications to reach as many residents as possible, and in light of the unequivocal data over the years, it is clear and understandable that Chai Fe received a "slice of the speaker cake", and distributed the municipality's publications to a very wide readership.
But wonder and wonder, after Tal took office, the municipality under the leadership of Kalish stopped using the broad stage of Hai Fe - as mentioned the largest news website, whose circulation has become more extensive over the years than the circulation of all its competitors combined - and you will not guess where the municipality's advertising budgets were directed , under the scepter of Tal.
Did you manage to guess?
Could it be that "News Haifa and the Kiryat", whose circulation is currently smaller than that of Hai Pa by a rate (in October 2024) of more than 20 times, received most of the budget? Is it conceivable that Tal's previous place of work became the "official Shofera", almost the only one, of the Haifa municipality? Is it possible that Tal still has "some connection" to this site? And not just a "warm corner in the heart"? For the solutions.
Read the report
On 3/12/24, the report of the Haifa Municipality Auditor for 2023 was published, and in the chapter concerning the Spokesperson's Division, which deals, among other things, with the decision-making processes of Eliran Tal, who heads it, many deficiencies were found, which although this column is not the platform to list them all, but we will mention a few of them, on the tip of the fork (while I implore you also in this matter - read the report itself - Click here for Ayoן - the main reference to Tal on pages 12-15).
- the lack of work procedures;
- Failures in job scopes;
- Prohibited use of public resources;
- lack of an effective work plan;
- Failures in reports about working days and hours;
- Contrary to the obligee, Tal did not sign the employment agreement when he was appointed spokesperson;
- Contrary to the CEO circular, Tal began his work as a spokesperson, without signing any conflict of interest agreements;
- Contrary to the mandatory regulations, Tal was not subordinated to the CEO of the municipality, but directly to the mayor;
- In the reports that Tal gave about the nature of his relations with "News Haifa and the Kiryat", internal contradictions were discovered;
- Despite the fear of a conflict of interest, Tal did not withdraw his hands from the decisions regarding his former employer above; The opposite is true - Tal himself made sure that the municipality's publications were directed to this website;
- Works were referred to "News Haifa and the Kiryat" without an engagement agreement as required;
- Under Tal, "News Haifa and the Kiryat" received a much larger scope of work than the other sites, so for example, 70% of all the municipality's expenses on media in 2020;
- Between his position in the municipality spokesperson and his relations with the media, there is an "institutional conflict of interest".
It seems that the things are clear, and everyone who has eyes in his head understands the meanings of what is said in the auditor's report, and the implications of these things both on the extent of the municipality's success in making optimal use of public funds, and on the extent of its success in effectively reaching the general public, and I will not escape the hot potato - the consequences The clarity of the things on the media websites, including the one in front of your eyes now.
Lack of response on urban issues
The auditor's report, naturally, does not deal with the content of Tal's actions in his role as spokesperson for the municipality, but to complete the picture, perhaps we should look "inside" for a moment, into the clear line that Tal led, of compartmentalizing some of the media, and his choice not to give the municipality's responses to many tens of inquiries, on a variety of issues concerning the Haifa public (See at this link a list of 97 unanswered inquiries), and cautiously says that it is not impossible that Tal's choices as a speaker were at the discretion of the Haifa municipality and whoever was at the head of it at the time.
Suffice it to mention the stinging and unprecedented loss that Kalish suffered in the 2023 elections, which can testify, among other things, to the public opinion that has formed among the Haifa public about her performance as mayor, which is largely influenced by the municipality's publications, including the responses of the spokesmen's division that are given - or in the case of Tel , which in many cases are not given - to the media.
And what is left to say?
Two words for the reviewer:
As a citizen of the country and a resident of the city, of course I respect the auditor and the report he wrote, but this does not infringe on my right to "criticize the auditor", and I will focus on two points only:
My first comment refers to the things quoted in the report from Tal's mouth, who, in his attempt to justify his actions, claimed that "News Haifa Kiryut Net is known and recognized as a particularly strong and effective website in the Haifa and the North region..." while presenting data in a manner that, on the face of it, was predicted to be fraudulent.
With all due respect to the action of the auditor, which has power over the municipality and not over external bodies, I think that the auditor should have checked the "data" that was uploaded by Tel, and that he could have done so easily: the information about the distribution of all the sites is visible and accessible, and there was room for consideration For the distorted and biased manner in which the media map was presented by the municipality's spokesperson.
My second comment to the auditor's report deals with Tal's claim (in one of his versions), that his work for "News Haifa and the Kiryat" was "voluntary", and the reviewer's reference to this was that "even in the absence of a formal salary, the performance of a position may involve receiving additional compensation, and therefore this has no mitigating significance."
With all due respect to the reviewer's point of view, my point of view is different:
Not only does volunteering not "alleviate" the fear of conflict of interest, but actually aggravates it, to the point of real suspicion: volunteer work, more than paid work, indicates a deeper connection and commitment of the "volunteer"; Salary has no color, and can be converted into income from any other source. And why is it that a person would "volunteer" to help the body, if he has no "other" connection to it, whatever the nature of the connection?
And a final word to the Haifa Municipality - how advertising budgets are distributed:
In order to avoid such embarrassing reports in the future as well, and to act in the proper and committed manner from a local authority, it is necessary to determine how to properly divide the advertising cake, without depending on the whims of one person or another, or being misled by trending misrepresentations.
For this purpose, it is possible to hire the services of an external consultant, preferably one from abroad, whose rates are sky-high, and after the public purse finances this considerable expense, including his salary, his flight, hotel accommodation, etc., it will be possible to appoint a committee, which will discuss the consultant's recommendations in due course , and then forward the recommendation to the city council for discussion... We are thus assured, that within ten years "only", after "only" a few hundred thousand Shekels, we will get an answer.
But it is also possible otherwise.
It is possible without advisers, without committees, without tens and hundreds of thousands of shekels to be stolen from the public purse, and with an immediate stop to the leakage of funds, which continue to go down the drain in view of the laxity, at best, in which affairs are managed; The main victims of the ongoing waste of resources, and the diversion of publications to marginal channels, in a way that impairs the transmission of required information to the public, are not only the Department of Communications, not only the municipality and not only its head, but of course the city and all its residents.
As someone who loves the city, I hereby dedicate to the municipality of Haifa my banal and trivial advice, free of charge:
The only thing that should be of interest to the municipality is not the beautiful eyes of the editor on site A, not Man Dehua's friendship with the owner of site B, and not the informal shares that (God forbid) a senior official in the municipality has on site C.
Only the circulation is relevant, and instead of believing the presentations and statements, there are independent parties who are trusted with measuring the traffic.
Investment of municipal advertising funds
Therefore, if the urban advertising map is determined on a quarterly basis, the objective data of the last quarter must be examined, and accordingly give 10% of the advertising to the site that received 10% circulation in the previous quarter, 20% of the advertising to the site that received 20% circulation, 30% to this one who won 30%, and so on, and accordingly if you determine the advertising map monthly, yearly, weekly or according to any other key. And the same is true for unexpected publications, due to events that were not planned in advance.
It's very simple, it's logical, it's required, and this is how the best use of public funds will be achieved, exactly for the purpose for which they were intended.
Of course, the results must be normalized, and a "blockage percentage" must be set to avoid dividing the budget promiles in a wasteful manner, but this is a technique, the failure of which will result in minor and negligible deviations, compared to the current situation, which can be likened to a giant projection screen installed in the city square, on which important messages can be broadcast to be seen by the crowds in the square, down to the last one in the far corner... but the messages are simply not broadcast to this screen, and yet they Projected on a mobile phone screen, the messages reach only a few people out of the crowd.
Summary and comments
Although unfortunately I am not a journalist, but only a lawyer, I have been engaged in consulting and litigation for many years, among other things in the fields of media, and as a legal consultant I am a great supporter of giving the right of response to every party mentioned in every article.
There is an inherent difficulty in receiving the municipality's response to this column, since responses are received from the spokespersons' division, which is the focus of this review, and articles concerning the municipality are forwarded to the speaker's attention... and here we are back to the opening of the column, and to that doctor-who-operates-himself: it is clear that no one picks himself up By the hair of his head, it is not possible to ask the spokesperson of the municipality to respond objectively and matter-of-factly to the things alleged in the report The reviewer, and in this column.
Therefore, the Hai Pa system contacted the mayor directly, in order to receive the municipality's response from the mouth of the hero.
But the municipality's response came, in the usual way - and in this special case, in a sterile and pointless way - from the spokes division itself.
The spokesmen's division gave a response to Lai Pa: "We thank the municipal auditor for a comprehensive and professional report. Most of the comments that appeared in the report were addressed and corrected even before the official report was published."
In addition, Eliran Tal's personal response was also received:
The matter in question was addressed and approved by the legal counsel, my reference appears in the report.
It's messing with the therapist.
Empty comments
I don't think it's necessary to explain and detail why these responses are nonsense: empty of actual content, and seeking to avoid dealing with sharp questions arising from the auditor's report, a shame.
Hoping for better days, for a sky free from the smoke of fires and the winds of war, for the return of all our sons and daughters to the bosom of their families, and for clean and honest conduct, on the part of all those in whose hands the power of government and public money is entrusted.
Another Ron Aviv is amazing. Describes in respectful language without offending anyone the institutional decay that has spread in the State of Israel due to which we had the disaster of 7.10/1. It's a shame that a large part of Israeli citizens don't bother to do 1+10 and see the picture. I'll just point out that I live in another city and the speaker with the fat employment and pension conditions I approached about placing a huge facility of the electric company next to our old building in order to connect a nearby and luxurious building to electricity and I asked to know why The municipality gave permission for this thing to push this ugly facility in front of our windows, which is located next to the new building - and the sneak was to contact the city's intelligence where students work according to When in part-time jobs that do not understand anything. And the conclusion. Sue... Hai Pa newspaper should sue the municipality and the speaker and the Ministry of the Interior in the Haifa District Court for a total of, let's say, XNUMX million shekels for discrimination in the provision of work, violation of freedom of occupation, imposition of economic terrorism and punitive damages. At the same time, file a complaint with the Commission The civil service, etc. The law is in our hands and we, the citizens, have to vomit out this rot and corruption. The problem is that there needs to be a quick, point-by-point reform of the law so that the fees for filing claims will be an equivalent amount for each person. A modest amount of a few hundred shekels regardless of the size of the claim, as is customary in the United States, and then you will come to the point of redemption. I subscribe to publish my response here. Good luck in your righteous struggle. Please do not post your details.
What a beauty... a selective review.
. Where is the auditor of the municipality who discusses the relief of pocket savings and making delinquencies of an entrepreneur at the expense of the municipality? Shortcuts for issuing permits without adapting the new Bordia infrastructure/redemption dormitories?
So that the city auditor, by mistake, doesn't know, didn't know? God forbid he goes blind or becomes deaf...Mr. the selective municipal auditor...please check who the developer is connected to in the municipality. Then issue a report on what is going on in the municipality
Ron Aviv
An experienced lawyer
Sharp and accurate
highly recommend
Dr. Ram Yaron
All the best to you, Attorney Ron Aviv. Have a good and blessed week.
Learned from someone who was a spokeswoman for the IDF and advanced thanks to the quality of the licks and the manipulations. A good student.
May I also add a line of criticism about the audit institution in general, and municipalities in particular. The feeling is that this is an academic activity, which has "all the time in the world" for the sake of future generations. And so elected officials get to celebrate the criticism of their predecessors, and leave the criticism of themselves to those who will come after them. If you want to derive real efficiency from the audit, in real time, you need to find a method to shorten the PAZM. As I recall, the Agrant Committee issued an interim report in a short time, which allowed for the immediate implementation of urgent conclusions, and then took "all the time in the world" to issue the The full report. Maybe this is the model.
It's just a shame that you forgot to mention that the investigation began following a complaint that I (attorney Lior Datz) submitted to the legal advisor and a violation of the speaker's commitment not to engage in the affairs of that website any longer.
There are parties that fight public corruption and there are those that write to them.
For those who didn't understand, the criticism was against the municipal auditor who took 3 years to submit an audit report whose recommendations, in my opinion, should have been the opening of a criminal investigation and impeachment. But once again the municipal auditor chooses to write a lot 3 years late and not do anything significant. It's time for the current municipal auditor who holds After serving for many years, he will retire.