Here is a precis of a familiar story that took place a year ago:

You’re not happy with an incumbent.
There’s no scheduled election coming up soon, and you can’t use the normal party processes to unseat the incumbent.
You mount a destabilising campaign against the incumbent.
The incumbent is now on the defensive at every decision.
The incumbent becomes embroiled in a mess partly of his own making, but largely created by the destabilising campaign.
You go to the media, saying that the situation now warrants extraordinary measures to deal with the instability.
The media adds its own measure of ‘destabilising potion’ by relentlessly reporting on the instability.
Finally you – the original instigator of the process – enter the arena portraying yourself as the “knight in shining armour”, the hero who has reluctantly been approached to rescue the public from an extremely unpopular and dysfunctional incumbent.

Sound familiar? This is the Kevin Rudd story of a year ago. This is also the Menachem Khoen story of Lion FM today.

Last Thursday (16/6) night a “public” meeting was called to deal with the ongoing future of Jewish radio. The meeting was chaired by JCCV president John Searle and attended by a selection of people almost all of whom were involved either in supporting Khoen’s MJR, or supplanting MJR’s right to hold the licence.

The pro-Khoen group has been plagued by accusations of mismanagement that culminated in a complaint to ACMA last April about MJR’s record keeping, and MJR’s stated pro-Zionist policy. The ACMA complaint has effectively destabilised and even paralysed the radio station. Ironically those who spoke most passionately about the need for unity were the very people who initiated the complaint to the ACMA. This was not really a “unity” meeting. No olive branches were offered. This was a confrontational meeting between warring factions.

When Menachem Khoen reminded Thursday night’s assembly of their role in the destabilisation — and yes, he did defy the chair numerous times — the destabilisers closed their ears, some of them even saying to me that Menachem was delusional. Well, whatever differences I have with Menachem Khoen, on one matter I agree with him: The people who were calling loudest for unity on Thursday night were the original destabilisers.

John Searle’s explanation to the attendees that the JCCV would support only one organisation’s bid for a broadcasting licence turned the meeting into a kind of tasteless competition: who would win the JCCV’s imprimatur for legitimacy?

The political gambit is very familiar.

But there’s a big difference between Labor Party party politics and internal Jewish community politics. In the former, the protagonists are fully aware of the game they’re playing. Even the public is vaguely aware of the game. But in our parochial JCCV politics the destabilisers and the Jewish media have gone into complete denial over the role they played.

Until the parties start trading olive branches instead of insults the future of Jewish Radio remains bleak.

Ralph Zwier was a broadcaster on Lion FM and worked on a subcommittee within Lion FM dealing with the complaint made to the ACMA.

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Original piece is http://galusaustralis.com/2011/06/4672/menachem-khoen-and-kevin-rudd-a-tale-of-unfair-dismissal/

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I don’t live in Melbourne, but I do visit fairly frequently. Over the past year I loved tuning in the radio as I drove around Melbourne, listening to Lion and chalishing that Australian Jewry could reach beyond its own community borders through the medium of radio. I loved listening to Ronit and Ralph and also to Morry (who broadcasts in the same brilliant articulate way that he writes). Nobody outside of those involved with this discussion really cares how or why this amazing accomplishment was railroaded by the internal bickering. But many probably do care and lament that the opportunity is now lost. For a smart people and community of well resourced members, sometimes we Jewish people are not too deserved of the respect that others hold for us. Melbourne as the largest Jewish community in the region should be a flagship model community. Heck, it can’t do anything right, from a communal appeal, to a Rabbinic structure, to a unified representation, to a cross-communal media. And what’s with the judgementalism? Depending on which shule you go to, or which school you send your kids to, or what type of Kippah you wear (or don’t) everyone wants to brand you. That’s Melbourne Jewish community life; a place where people ask what work you do and try and find out how rich you are before they care to know what your name is. A place where everybody worries more about what everybody else is doing and less of what they are doing themselves. Perhaps the real question is not why Melbourne lost Lion FM, but whether or not the Melbourne Jewish community actually deserves to have a radio station? It may sting a little, but until such time as Melbourne can muster a little communal unity amongst its ranks, it would appear that the answer is no. This whole incident is symptomatic of everything that is not right about our otherwise impressive life as Australian Jews. It reflects poorly on the capabilities and competencies of Jewish communal structures everywhere. Next time I visit Melboune I’ll bring the ipod again. As I drive around listening to podcasts I’ll once again probably conclude that I’m really glad that I didn’t take that chance to move to Melbourne.

Posted by Yossy on 2011-06-26 02:01:01 GMT

Dear Ralph, I don’t know anything about what happened at Lion FM. I only know that I got so much out of listening to your show with Ronit, and listening to Morry’s show with Gabi, and hearing Israeli music, and Robin Aron’s kids show with kids’ Jewish songs. One of my biggest thrills was hearing Melanie Phillips on Lion FM. I honestly think that all our freedoms as Jews will soon come to an end, and I am not the only person to compare these times with the 1930s (Martin Gilbert said it too). If we are just shifting chairs around on the Titanic, what is this infighting all about? I had no time to be involved at Lion FM, but I was desperate for there to be hourly news items from Israel, or even articles from the Jewish News about Israel to be read out on a regular basis. In today’s media war against Israel’s legitimacy (and let’s face it — all Jews are affected by this indirectly), it’s so important to get Israel’s perspective out there. If infighting has taken Lion off the air, it is an indictment of our Jewish leadership. It reminds me of when I worked at Australia Israel Publications (now AIJAC) in 1988 and Isi Leibler objected to our existence as he thought he should be the only person speaking for the Jewish community. I love radio. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I like listening in my car, and in my kitchen. I’m 51 years old, and there are plenty of people my age and older still interested – anyone heard of baby boomers? Good luck on getting back on the air.

Posted by Rut Rosenberg on 2011-06-26 01:25:46 GMT

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