Dr. Ilana Dayan-Orbach is an Israeli TV journalist best known for anchoring the award-winning weekly investigative news program Uvda (“Fact”) since it debuted in 1993. Under her leadership, Channel 12’s Uvda–Israel’s longest-running TV program–has generated heated public discussion as well as practical action aimed at making Israel better for all. The winner of numerous prizes from the Israeli Academy of Film and Television and the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum, Uvda has also earned accolades overseas, winning numerous prizes in international festivals.
Born in Argentina, Dr. Dayan-Orbach immigrated to Israel with her family at the age of six. She was raised in Tel Aviv and served in the Israel Defense Forces in the early 1980s, where she worked at Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) as a producer, editor, and the first female soldier-correspondent in the station’s history. As a correspondent, she covered Israeli politics and while still completing her military service, she became co-anchor of Galei Tzahal’s morning show. After her release from IDF service, Dr. Dayan-Orbach continued broadcasting for Galei Tzahal, where she still hosts a weekly current affairs program. At the age of 23, she became the first female anchor on the Israeli Educational Television’s five-o’clock news broadcast Erev Hadash (“New Evening”).
Alongside her career in journalism, Dr. Dayan-Orbach is a lawyer, certified by the Israel Bar Association. After completing her legal training at Tel Aviv University, she went on to earn LLM and JSD degrees from Yale Law School as a Fulbright Fellow. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member of Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Law, teaching a Freedom of Speech course.
In 2009, Dr. Dayan-Orbach received an award from the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, citing her “unique contribution to the fight against the scourge of corruption, and raising the level of coverage and criticism in the written and broadcast press.” In 2015, she was awarded the Sokolov Prize–considered the most prestigious award for Israeli journalism, second only to the Israel Prize for Communications. The Sokolov Prize committee noted that Dr. Dayan-Orbach was honored for “a host of thorough, groundbreaking investigations, for her pioneering contribution to televised investigative journalism, for creating a new investigative language, and for serving as a paragon for a new generation of investigative journalists.” In 2018, she was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television.