_.6---_ UJF--ATUgust 15, 1980 ' ' i
Israel's International TV- Programs and Problems
Production Chief of the Foreign Lan- television center without a formal media
Israel's educational television at work. Program director Linda Mische a South
African immigrant, sits between two colleagues during a video taping(World
Zionist Press ,Service photo by Abraham Amidor.)
popular live TV magazine for the whole
family, "This Is It."
Facilities at the television center are
satisfactory. The cameras are vintage
black and white, but, in fact, most of the
television sets in private homes and all the
receivers in the schools are black and
white too.
Most programs are conceived, produced
and taped in the studios, though some
spots and segments are bought outside.
There is an advisory board for each
educational department, too, usually
consisting of top academics in each field,
an Inspector from the Ministry of
Education and at least one experienced
classroom teacher.
According t0/ Estelle Friedman
BY ABRAHAM AAMIDOR
Soap, Quincy and an obvious adaptation
of an American prize money show were
the most popular night time programs on
Israel television in 1980, but it is from
the Instructional Television Center near
Tel Aviv University that over half of
Israel's total video output is broadcast,
nearly 44 hours a week, mornings and
afternoons. With more than 200 em-
plnyees, a large budget from the Ministry
"of Education and two complete studios
the television center produces over 300
new programs a year.
Daytime love triangles are out and
Pythagorean are in, as well as foreign
language instruction, Judaism and Israeli
history, science and maths, and even a
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guages Department, "one of the highest
priorities goes to pre-school and kinder-
garten age. Research has shown that the
medium of TV has been very successful
with children of this age group. Also,
disadvantaged children tend to watch TV
more, so they are a prime target."
One such pre-school program is h4a
Pitom {What's Up) a live action show with
its own muppet style super star, Kish-
kashta, and such dramatized educational
content as teaching how bread is baked or
how time is told. Taped at the center in
one day under a tight shooting schedule,
each episode actually takes up to two
weeks to develop from concept to "VTR,"
or video tape recording day.
According to Linda Mischel, a young
South Aftican immigrant and the Direc-
tor of Ma Pitom, the genesis of any episode
is a concept meeting between a script
writer, producer ad educational adviser.
As to VTR day, "We must go in at a
specific time and get out at a specific
time," says Ms. Mischel. "I feel really
relaxed after a taping-it's really cathar-
tic, like conducting a symphony and hav-
ing everybody doing everything right."
The director actually sits in the picture
control room during the tapmg, l'lle Lan-
guage of the day is Hebrew but all tech-
ni_cal and media terms are inEnglish.
Ms. Mischel began at the Instructional
Television Center in 1968 in an English
language program while she was a fresh-
man student at Tel Aviv University.
"They were looking for an Anglo-Saxon
actor," she explains, " and it gave me my
first involvement on the floor."
After various jobs connected with
production, Ms. Mischel got her first
Hebrew production only in 1979. "I was
nervous," she says npw. "I had to read 10
pages of Hebrew script the first day."
She sees no discrimination against
women at the Instructional Television
Center. Indeed, about one half of the
directors and over half of the producers
are female. Yet, she says, "there are al-
most no women in technical skills, as set
designers, sound men, cameramen, or as
technical directors. All the females who
are working in technical skills are Russian
immigrants. But," she adds," the women
directors in this building have not proved
that they can stand the pressure of a live
40 minute broadcast. The men get these
jobs." Bias'NofMen have simply proved
themselves under pressure."
Estelle Friedman is another woman
who has moved into a top position at the
II
PEOPLE00RUG
background.
Says Ms. Friedman, a former English
teacher, "an Inspector was observing my
class and she recommended me as a
'studio teacher.' In the older days we
wrote our own scripts and taught lessons
on the air. There were three studio
teachers for English. I also wrote sup-
porting materials and helped train the
other teachers. After a number of years I
was asked to become head of a production
team, then a Department Chief.
"But," admits Ms. Friedman, "we
would not hire anyone today in produc-
tion unless he or she had a degree in Film
and Video or at least Communication."
Jerry Hyman, a 37 year old immigrant
from the United States, is one of the
regular actors in instructional television
programs though he holds an M.A. in
Guidance and Counseling and he works
two days a week in the Israeli school
system in this capacity.
Jerry began acting in Israel in 1963
when he found his way from a Kibbutz
ulpan to a job call at Haifa Municipal
Theater. He began in an English speaking
role but after three months he Was
switched to a Hebrew speaking role. He
returned to the United States to complete
his degree programs and he also studied at
the Neighborhood Playhouse School of
Theater in New York. He made Aliya to
Israel sometime after that.
H e says that children recognize him on
the street, but only in the summer months
when his most popular series is broadcast
in re-run. "By autumn they don't knoW
me anymore," he laughs.
Child
{Continued from page 1)
mateiy want is a family to adopt him."
The youngster is beginning to identify
with his Jewish heritage, a sense of wealth
he may never had known if he had not been
placed in a Jewish home. If he becomes a
ward of the state there is no way to assure
that the family who takes him in will be
Jewish.
As Newstein explained, "There are over
3,000 Jewish families in the ares I feel
confident that there is a family who need
him as much as he need theme"
Newstein said he will be happy to talk
with any family willing to share their lives
with the six-year-old waif.
"It's an ideal time to demonstrate that
Jews care for one another. Taking this child
in will be a liftime Mitzvah.
32 TIDEWATER
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