Eichmann on the Air: Radio and the Making of a Historic Trial

opening court sessions on the following days. The first program
featured a street survey conducted in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on
the 'meaning of the trial and the Holocaust for people of various
social ranks', followed by a studio discussion with a historian, a
philosopher and a Holocaust survivor. The second program was
devoted to the legal procedures involved in the trial, featuring a
discussion with legal experts, and concluding with interviews with
Lord Bertrand Russell and other international intellectuals. 29 The
day following the broadcast, Teddy Kollek, Ben Gurion's bureau
chief, wrote to Kol Yisrael's Director General: 'Yesterday I listened
to the first Yoman Ha'mishpat during my trip to Tel Aviv. In my
opinion it was rather weak and lengthy—too bad. Please consider
cutting it down by 15 minutes'. 30 As the Prime Minister's bureau
chief (whose responsibilities included overseeing Kol Yisrael's
operations), Kollek was well within his capacity to express his
discomfort with what he reckoned as inadequate, perhaps even
excessive, coverage. Evidently, this was not serious enough a
reservation since broadcasting of the Trial Diary proceeded as
planned.
But a month later Kollek would present a different view. His
initial reservation gave way to proactive involvement, aiming at
harnessing the growing public interest in the trial to current political
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