Jewish Week To Murdoch: No Sale

Gary Rosenblatt writes:

…The truth is, such offers, and your note about how you think Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is “really quite smashing in a low-key, smoldering way” and deserving of a “Jewish Week photo spread of her romping on a Tel Aviv beach” to “perk up newsstand sales,” gives me additional pause about any possible partnership between us.

…Your ideas for “transforming” The Jewish Week are equally inappropriate. We are not interested in a regular feature called “Macher Madness,” detailing “the rants and raves of Jewish communal leaders.” (Some would insist we do that anyway on a regular basis; and the same goes for your “Chief Rabbis’ Craziest Quotes of the Week” proposal.)

…You are quite right that Jewish newspapers face an even more serious situation than the general press, which is deeply concerned about its long-term survival. We know that many daily newspapers are cutting staff, coverage and paper size as readership goes down and younger people abandon print publications for the Internet. To compound matters, the Jewish community is faced with an aging, shrinking population and a new generation less interested in Jewish communal life, Israel and collective responsibility for Jews around the world.