June 9, 2009
I was talking with one of my favorite journalists recently about the double whammy hitting the Jewish media: newspapers are in decline, while Jewish philanthropies are suffering their worst year in decades.
“We seem to be a dying medium for a dying people,” I joked to Sam Freedman, the New York Times religion columnist and professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
“No,” said Sam. “It’s an ever-dying medium for an ever-dying people.”
His reference was to the Jewish historian Simon Rawidowicz, who coined “ever-dying people” to describe the Jews’ propensity for pessimism, as well as their genius for revival.
Pessimism and revival were the themes when Sam spoke at a retreat for NJJN board members earlier this year. He spoke of the dot-com revolution that transformed reading habits and undermined the business model of print newspapers. It’s a familiar story of lost ad revenue, fading dailies, and unemployed journalists.
But there are reasons to hold off on the shiva for the Jewish press.
“Hyperlocal” and specialty publications like ours may at least survive the “enormous bloodbath,” as he called it, thanks to fewer direct competitors and the value advertisers place on our specialized audience (that’s you).
Sam also suggested a few “Jewish” reasons that we can allow ourselves to hope. Jews are readers (he cited an astounding-if-true statistic that Jews, 2 percent of the population, buy 20 percent of all hardcover books). The older ones remain committed to the printed word. And the day schools are creating a corps of kids committed, at least in theory, to the things we write about.
Perhaps, most of all, Jewish journalism will survive because the Jewish world needs it to survive. The Jewish press is one of the last settings to represent Jewish community in all its diversity. Within our pages, Orthodox must confront Reform, hawks must deal with doves, upstarts can learn from veterans. It’s a conversation that is happening almost nowhere else.
Jewish newspapers tell the kinds of stories other publications, outlets, and news sites can’t or won’t tell. We report on the trends, people, and institutions that may not make headlines outside our community, but have enormous significance within the “family.”
A good Jewish newspaper also encourages activism — it can rile people up to demand more of their leaders, do a good deed, or defend the things they believe in. It shows them the ways their philanthropy can benefit the less fortunate. That was why federations went into the newspaper business in the first place.
Finally, a Jewish newspaper is a friendly, unthreatening, and commitment-free way to reach Jews reluctant to enter “typical” institutional settings.
However, that doesn’t mean we sit back and wait for such readers to show up. The economy, the on-line revolution, and changes in Jewish demographics have forced us — no, inspired us — to consider ways to be better at what we do, and to continue to state the case for a robust Jewish press to traditional stakeholders and a new generation.
You are holding the results of such thinking in your hand. We’ve re-imagined the Princeton Mercer Bucks edition of NJJN with loyal readers and new audiences in mind. Our latest redesign delivers the full range of community happenings and news but in a livelier and fresher format for busy readers.
The new NJJN delivers the same breadth of coverage, but in different proportions. It features local, state, national, and global news, but in a format that combines shorter articles with in-depth features and interviews focusing on the month’s most significant events and newsmakers.
The bright new design also features a smaller page, top to bottom, which is both less costly to print and more akin to a magazine than a newspaper. We think you’ll agree with test audiences who found the new size more stylish and more inviting than our previous format.
The new NJJN will also point you toward more Web-only content at www.njjewishnews.com. And in between issues of the Princeton Mercer Bucks edition, you can go to the website to get the latest news from around the state and the Jewish world.
We’d love to know what you think about the new format. Write me at asc@njjewishnews.com. Help us write the next chapter in the story of Jewish revival.
Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com
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