Newspapers are in a terrible bind around the world as readers migrate to the web to get their news and there is as yet no way for most publishers to earn a profit online.
As I ask around at Jewish newspapers, it seems they are doing fine.
I haven’t noticed any drop in editorial content and quality at the major weeklies, including the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.
Many Jewish newspapers are subsidized by their local Jewish federation (not the Jewish Journal). The Forward has a massive endowment. All serve an affluent niche audience that advertisers covet.
I email Rob Eshman, the Editor of the Jewish Journal:
Hey Rob,
Dear Rob,
Pre-Shabbos salutations to you.
How are you?
I hope you are well.
I enjoyed watching your wife in "Praying in Her Own Voice."
I can’t wait to pick up the latest issue of the Jewish Journal.
I’m a devoted reader.
Your paper just keeps getting better and better.
I love to share it with all my friends.
It’s the one thing that unites Jews in Los Angeles.
Newspapers are in crisis around the world. More readers are going online for their news and few publishers have figured out a way to make a profit publishing news online.
So how is the Jewish Journal coping? You are not subsidized by the Federation. You don’t have a massive endowment. Is there still going to be a Jewish Journal a year or three years down the line?
As far as I’m concerned, you can fire anyone you want on your staff, just don’t touch Orit.
Is your sense of things that American Jewish weeklies are better situated than mainstream daily newspapers to ride out these problems?
Rob replies:
Dear Luke:
Yes, we are coping. We are very careful about expenses, which is why the paper can look pretty anemic in summer, when we sell fewer ads, and why occasionally we have to make very tough choices, though nothing like, heaven forbid, The LA Times. Our freelancers will also tell you we don’t overpay. We do try to pay our staff competitively and to provide a good health plan, pension and a nice place to work.
We have invested in jewishjournal.com and continue to improve it. It has the largest online L.A. Jewish community calendar, the largest collection of local Jewish blogs, the only local Jewish reporting, the most comprehensive and up to date lists of kosher restaurants and synagogues. We employ people to check and recheck these listings so users won’t drive an hour to a place that’s closed or lost its hechsher. Brad Greenberg’s GodBlog at www.jewishjournal.com was named Best Independent Blog by the LA Press Club and one of the best religion blogs in the world by The Times of London. We are rolling out many new features and many new blogs soon: life behind the doors of a woman’s yeshiva in Jerusalem, Jewish life on campus, etc.And we continue to bring the community great voices like Orit, like our newest columnist Marty Kaplan and all our staff writers. Our latest independent survey reported that only 3 percent of The Journal’s distributed on the street are returned, and that the average readers spends 45 minutes with each issue. Those are good numbers.But none of this compares to a much more pressing question: When will you lose the beard?Best,Rob
I respond:
I’m never losing the beard. I’m not even going to trim it. The Torah’s against it, and as you know, my every deed is governed by G-d’s immutable law.
The one drawback is that chicks don’t dig it.
Rob replies: " I’ll find you a rabbi who’ll not only allow it, but bless it."
