Blog to NJJN: Drop dead
I’ve been criticized, mocked, scorned — and that’s just by family members. But wished out of existence, along with my livelihood? Never, until this:
The New Jersey Jewish News doesn’t deserve to exist, as far as I’m concerned. If it goes under and Jersey Jews must instead read the NJ-themed page of the NY Jewish Week or a “local news” feed from the Forward, well, so be it.
That comes from Jewschool blogger “Kung Fu Jew,” in an otherwise trenchant and provocative critique of the “alter kackers” in the Jewish press by a self-proclaimed “younger folk.” I’d like to say I wasn’t hurt, but I sorta was, especially since I’ve always been a fan of Jewschool and have given it a shoutout in a few columns and blog posts. And KFJ identifies him/herself as someone who ran New Voices magazine a few years ago. I’ve been a supporter of New Voices, teaching workshops at their conventions and attending a recent fundraiser. So yeah, I’m a little hurt.
And I also like to think I’ve made the NJJN a venue for some of the content KFJ pines for, to whit: articles that treat intermarriage as a reality, not a “challenge”; articles that challenge Israeli politicians and policies; articles that “cover the fringe” where somebody has defined Jewishness in a new or interesting way; investigative journalism into the Organized Jewish Community; and themes beyond the Jewish community, including genocides elsewhere and other religions.
(I’m not even sure why KFJ singled us out — I didn’t participate in the AJPA conference call that is the occasion for the blog post.)
And KFJ is right that “Jewish newspapers can’t accomplish lots of that” — or can’t accomplish that to the degree that KFJ would like to see. But it’s not “because most of them are not newspapers, they’re newsletters for the very Jewish ‘powers that be’ that Jewish media should watchdog.” It’s because — and this may be hard for KFJ to accept — not every reader expects the same things out of Jewish media that KFJ does.
Which brings me to the “New Jersey Jewish News doesn’t deserve to exist” thing. Let’s say we’re as lame as KFJ thinks we are. Let’s say we never report “on the fringe,” or invite young people to contribute, or do investigations (which we and many others like us do, but never mind). For many of our readers, the local Jewish paper remains a lifeline for info about their friends and neighbors, about their local institutions, about the wider Jewish world brought to them via JTA or our local perspectives on national and international events. It’s where they like to be heard, in letters pages and the oped pages. They too might like the sort of boundary-breaking conversations KFJ is talking about. but that’s not all they want.
True, this may be a generational thing. And that as far as younger readers are concerned, we’re a lost cause. That’s too bad, but it’s also the way of the world. Network television had a long run, as did the vinyl record album, and the paperback book. A new generation may not turn to them, but that doesn’t invalidate the original exercise.
Sorry to say, KFJ, in 20 years time you and your comrades-in-blogs will be scorned and ‘buked by Jews a generation younger, who will titter at your “edgy” opinons and “fringe” ideas. And, like me, you’ll read and listen to these folks and try to figure out ways to join their conversation, and invite them to yours, without tearing down what has worked for you.
But you’ll also see value in continuing to serve your own generation and those older — and recognize the young person’s mistaken belief (and here I do sound like an alter kaker) that the world’s birth coincided with their own.
[UPDATE: Jewschoolers respond in the comments section below.]
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JustASC is written by Andrew Silow-Carroll, Editor-in-Chief of the 
December 29th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
For what it’s worth, Andrew, I’m grateful for the attention you gave Jewschool over the years and I don’t think KFJ was trying to single you out so much as to use your paper generally as a “for instance”, pointing to a paper covering a suburb of a major metropolitan as, in his opinion, being better off being folded into a bigger metropolitan paper. I read his statement about “deserving” to exist to be about the perpetuity of your brand rather than the value of your journalistic contributions. This was one of the issues that came up when I was shopping JTA’s JMetros plan around to the AJPA: None of the papers wanted to have their brands subsumed to a larger beast. The problem with that thinking is (and I think what KFJ was getting at) is that your paper — its name, its brand, its print edition — is ultimately less important than the work of providing quality news coverage to the people of your community. I agree with him on that point. I ultimately don’t care one way or the other if the NJJN continues to exist. But I care very much about your journalistic contribution, personally, continuing far on into the future, regardless of what medium or venue it takes place in.
December 29th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Andrew, I object that your characterization of my post was advocating the death of the Jewish press or specifically the New Jersey Jewish News. Neither is the case.
Let me use another example:
Ultimately, Jewschool doesn’t deserve to exist. It exists only so long as I and others write worthwhile material and attract readers and a minimum amount of advertising. That is all. As Jewschool has teetered on the brink of collapse more than once, sometimes it is amazing to those of us who administer it that we’ve not thrown up our hands with frustration and walked away.
The same is true about our approach to the Jewish community, its politics and its press too. Lots of my brethren are indeed walking away. And I find it my role — as perhaps you did yours — to believe that someone out there in communal leadership is listening. That someone will change course. That I care to get frustrated says that at least I wish it continued existance. Many of my generation don’t know NJJN or JTA exist at all, nor would they read it a second time once they did. Regarding the latter, I had a few suggestions in my post. I did not assume that nobody never carries any such stories, but that is the advice we gave.
And I’m not so starry eyed and self-assured as you might portray either. I met with almost every one of the 15+ generations of staff before me who ran New Voices when they were young. Each told the same lore: of their generation’s needs ignored by their predecessors, of being the new kid on the block with radical ideas, of being among the few who cared to make it work. They told of fights over campus life, wrestling over Zionism and Israel at war, and funding battles with the establishment. And almost all of them now ran Jewish publications or worked for The Man they fought before. And it was endearing that each of them regarded my politics with a bemused smirk, as if to say, “So this is what I looked like?” God willing, I will also be in that place. I became aware of this cycle as soon as I joined it. And I stayed because of it. I am already excited to see young contributors at Jewschool who will one day supplant me.
If it means anything to you, I read your posts and admire your work. And your links to us do not go unnoticed. Where that leaves us regarding the purpose and fate of the Jewish press, I don’t know. But I appreciate the dialogue and you shouldn’t take offense.
Peace out,
KFJ
December 30th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Dan: In describing the JMetros plan, you (and JTA) err in regarding Jewish weeklies merely as delivery systems for “quality news coverage.” We try to do that, sure, and more sharing of resources across the profession is not a bad thing. But my readers also value the intense “localness” of the paper. In fact, I print FIVE separate regional editions because, honestly, Jews in Middlesex County share an attachment and history with each other that they don’t necessarily share with Jews from Essex County. This might sound hopelessly parochial to you, but acros the industry papers are finding out that “microlocal” helps establish a niche and a brand. The proof is that while large regional dailies are failing or folding, our losses even in this dismal economic climate have been a fraction of theirs.
Dan and KFJ: As far as wishing me ill — KFJ’s “so be it” and Dan’s “I don’t care one way or the other if the NJJN continues to exist” sounds callous and selfish, however you spin it. I care a lot whether other media thrive — from blogs like Jewschool to news services like JTA to whatever new venture you’re in the process of planning. I want folks to have plenty of choices, and media that serve their particular interests. And I think you do care more than you let on: I can’t imagine with your political passion you would really like to see all Jewish news coverage in the U.S. subsumed under the umbrella of JTA or the Jewish Week. I thought progressives consider media monopolies bad for democracy?
December 30th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Andrew, reducing your own overhead and increasing your ad revenue by joining a larger national platform does not undercut nor undervalue the need for hyperlocal news. It’s a way of cutting costs, increasing visibility and adding immense value (in the form of state-of-the-art functionality) at a time when all papers, big and small, are struggling.
Yes, I have a problem with media consolidation — when it’s a multinational corporation, with questionable profit motives glomming up local papers and pushing an editorial perspective upon them. But the JMetros plan is not-for-profit and ensures continued editorial independence for each local node, while keeping its hands entirely off your print edition. That does not seem worrisome to me at all.
I want folks to have choices as well, but having one local Jewish paper in their media market already -isn’t- choice. Only major metros like NYC have more than one paper. And even then, they’re all struggling to stave off collapse and talking consolidation amongst themselves.
I’m not being selfish, I’m being realistic. The status quo is unsustainable, and everyone knows it. It’s high time publishers admit it to themselves.
December 30th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Perhaps it’s worth taking a step back from the negativity of this discussion. I assume, like most local jewish weeklies, NJJN receives some money from the local Federation (i.e. its not self-supported by subscribers and ads). That is/was money well spent to provide a way to communicate information to the local Jewish community. I suspect the majority of a Federation’s communication budget goes to supporting these newspapers. In an ideal world, how could this money be divided up to better enhance communication to Jews of all ages?
Given Andrew is clearly saying that a single newspaper can’t communicate to everyone is it better to diversify that money? Can the newspaper subsidy decrease without bankrupting the newspaper?
I’ll note that I have no clue about NJJN’s current financial situation so feel free to talk about NJJN or keep this on an abstract level.
December 30th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Oy. All of you are right. But Andy is letting you know the reality out here in suburbia. Some of us alter kakers like our paper with our coffee and gerotol. And that’s that. And while there’s still money to be made in the biz, I’d happily see even-handed, intelligent journalism like Andy’s survive for as long as it can.
Should the conversation open up to include new ideas? Duh. But NJJN may not be the place for that.
Larry’s making me divulge my dirty secret: I read neither the NJJN (except for Andy’s stylish opinion pieces) nor the Jewish Standard or the Jewish Gosh-Darned anything, unless it’s good and dusty.
My news comes from Larry and Joshua Micah Marshall (talking points memo).
And I’m with ya, Kung Fu, on the intermarriage thing. Let’s let some light in to this cozy little party. The gene pool will thank you.
But, the answer is not to give up. The answer is not to shut down papers until they have to. If it’s self sustainable, it deserves to exist. Hell, even if it’s not sustainable, it deserves to exist too. I don’t actually think the “market” is the last word. There’s always posterity. I have great hopes for posterity. And the answer always, always, is more voices. New Voices, and old voices and those who don’t know how to ask.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
AS-C,
like i have said before to you, welcome to the mainstream
here is yet another example
anyway be well
frankD