Jewish Telegraphic Agency Explained

Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Type:Not-for-profit news agency
Founder:Jacob Landau
Location City:New York City
Location Country:United States
Area Served:Worldwide
Key People:
  • Ami Eden, CEO and executive editor
  • Philissa Cramer, Editor-in-Chief
Industry:News media
Products:Wire service[1]
Parent:70 Faces Media

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service that primarily covers Judaism- and Jewish-related topics and news. Described as the "Associated Press of the Jewish media", JTA serves Jewish and non-Jewish newspapers and press around the world as a syndication partner. Founded in 1917, it is world Jewry's oldest and most widely-read wire service.

History

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was founded in The Hague, Netherlands, as the first Jewish news agency and wire service, then known as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau on February 6, 1917, by 25-year old Jacob Landau.[2] [3] Its mandate was to collect and disseminate news affecting the Jewish communities around the world,[4] [5] [6] [7] especially from the European World War I fronts.[8] [9] In 1919, it moved to London, under its current name.[6] [10] [11]

In 1922, the JTA moved its global headquarters to New York City.[6] By 1925, over 400 newspapers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, subscribed to the JTA.[12]

In November 1937, the Gestapo (the secret police of Nazi Germany) closed JTA's Berlin bureau, charging it with "endangering public safety and order."[13]

In 1940, the JTA spawned the Overseas News Agency (ONA).[14] Although designed to appear like a normal news agency, it was in fact secretly funded by the British intelligence service MI6.[15] ONA provided press credentials to British spies, and planted fake news stories in US newspapers.[15] Meyer Levin was a war correspondent in Europe during World War II, representing the Overseas News Agency and the JTA.[16] [17]

Its cable service improved the quality and range of Jewish periodicals.[8] [12] Today, it has correspondents in Washington, DC, Jerusalem, Moscow, and 30 other cities in North and South America, Israel, Europe, Africa, and Australia. The JTA is committed to covering news of interest to the Jewish community with journalistic detachment.[8]

As of 2014, JTA had a budget of $2 million.[18]

In 2015, the news service merged with Jewish education website MyJewishLearning to create 70 Faces Media, the largest Jewish media group in North America. MyJewishLearning was founded in 2003 and hosted more than 5,000 articles about Jewish life history, culture, and education.

Staff

Landau, JTA's original publisher, later founded The Palestine Bulletin, an English-language broadsheet published in Mandatory Palestine in 1925. The Palestine Bulletin eventually became The Jerusalem Post.[19]

Journalist Daniel Schorr began his career as an assistant news editor for the JTA from 1934 to 1941.[20] [21] [22]

Haskell Cohen was the sports editor for the JTA for 17 years; he is best known for later as the NBA director of public relations creating the NBA All Star Game in 1951.[23] Harold U. Ribalow was later the sports editor of the JTA.[24] In the 1960s, novelist and lawyer Eleazar Lipsky was the JTA's president.[25] [26]

Lillie Shultz, later a journalist and the chief administrative officer of the American Jewish Congress, was a staff member of the JTA in the early 1930s.[27] [28]

Editors-in-Chief

Boris Smolar joined the JTA in 1924, and retired as its editor-in chief in 1967.[29]

In January 2020, Philissa Cramer, co-founder and editor-at-large of nonprofit news organization Chalkbeat was named JTA's editor-in-chief. Cramer replaced Andy Silow-Carroll, who took the same post at New York Jewish Week in mid-2019 after three years at the helm.[30]

Editorial policy

The JTA is a not-for-profit corporation governed by an independent board of directors. It claims no allegiance to any specific branch of Judaism or political viewpoint. "We respect the many Jewish and Israel advocacy organizations out there, but JTA has a different mission—to provide readers and clients with balanced and dependable reporting", wrote JTA editor-in-chief and CEO and publisher Ami Eden. He gave as an example of the JTA's coverage of the Mavi Marmara activist ship.[31] JTA is officially apolitical and non-denominational in its coverage of Judaism and Jewish-related topics.

JTA is considered the "Associated Press of Jewish media". JTA's main competitor is the more conservative Jewish News Syndicate, launched in 2011.[32] JTA is still world Jewry's oldest and most widely-read wire service.

JTA is an affiliate of 70 Faces Media, a not-for-profit American media company.[33] [34] Other sites under the 70 Faces Media company include Kveller, Alma, and Nosher.[35]

Notable interviews

Reception

In 1933, Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein said in a speech at a dinner in his honor that the JTA was "very close to my heart", and that the JTA was keeping the public objectively informed about the lot of the Jews all countries: "in a graphic and objective manner, and in so doing it has performed an important service ..."[45]

In March 1942, in connection with its 25th anniversary the JTA received congratulatory messages from U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ("I trust through long decades to come that this medium of information will serve the world with fidelity and courage by the widest possible dissemination of the truth"), and U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson, British Ambassador Lord Halifax, Director of the U.S. Office of War Department of Facts and Figures Archibald MacLeish, Director of the U.S. Office of Government Reports Lowell Mellett, and Benjamin V. Cohen of the U.S. National Power Policy Committee.[46]

Awards

In 2021, JTA received ten Simon Rockower Awards, and 16 Rockower Awards in 2022, including eight first places.[47] [48] In 2023, the magazine won 20 Rockower Awards.[49]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Joe Sterling. Jewish paper's column catches Secret Service's eye. 14 October 2013. CNN. January 22, 2012.
  2. News: Jacob Landau, Founder of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Dies in N.Y. . 9 August 2023 . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . 1952-02-01.
  3. Book: Israel's Impact, 1950-51: A Personal Record . 9780819141262 . 1984 . University Press of America .
  4. Book: American Jewish Year Book . 1920 . American Jewish Committee, Jewish Publication Society of America . June 30, 2011.
  5. Book: Religion and our divided denominations . 1971 . Willard Learoyd Sperry . Books for Libraries Press . 9780836922011 . June 30, 2011.
  6. Book: Guide to the YIVO Archives . 1998 . YIVO Archives, Fruma Mohrer, Marek Web, Yivo Institute for Jewish Research. M.E. Sharpe . 9780765601308 . June 30, 2011.
  7. Book: Deutsches Judentum unter dem Nationalsozialismus . Mohr Siebeck . 1998. Otto Dov Kulka . 9783161472671 . June 30, 2011.
  8. Book: The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media . Jonathan D. Sarna . The American Jewish Press . Oxford University Press . 544 . April 28, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054528/http://www.brandeis.edu/hornstein/pdfs/publications/American%20Jewish%20Press%20-%20Oxford%20Handbook.pdf . March 4, 2016 . dead .
  9. May 13, 1927. Rumania Halts Landau; Efforts of New Yorker Frees Jewish Telegraph Agency Head.. NYTimes.
  10. Book: Isaiah Berlin; Letters, 1928–1946 . Cambridge University Press . 2004 . Isaiah Berlin . Henry Hardy . 9780521833684 . June 30, 2011.
  11. News: Diplomacy in the Diaspora: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency in Berlin (1922–1933) . https://archive.today/20120710072548/http://leobaeck.oxfordjournals.org/content/54/1/219.short . dead . July 10, 2012 . Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook. 2009 . Verena Dohrn . June 30, 2011.
  12. Book: The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media . 978-0-19-539506-8 . September 6, 2012 . Oup USA .
  13. News: REICH POLICE CLOSE A U. S. NEWS BUREAU; Charge the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Sent Reports Abroad in Violation of Agreement. The New York Times.
  14. News: JTA . July 14, 1940 . Overseas News Agency Launched .
  15. News: PJ Grisar . Sharks Defending Britain From Nazis? How 'Fake News' Helped Foil Hitler . . October 22, 2018.
  16. Web site: THE LIFE OF MEYER LEVIN. Daniel. Fuchs. January 3, 1982. The New York Times.
  17. Web site: MEYER LEVIN, WRITER, 75, DIES; BOOKS INCLUDED 'COMPULSION'. Herbert. Mitgang. July 11, 1981. The New York Times.
  18. News: Guttman . Nathan . JTA To Merge With My Jewish Learning To Create New Jewish Platform . 1 November 2023 . . 2014-01-14.
  19. Book: Michael D. Birnhack . Colonial Copyright: Intellectual Property in Mandate Palestine . Oxford University Press . 2012 . 978-0-19-163719-3 .
  20. Web site: Controversial Reporter. Martin. Arnold. February 27, 1976. The New York Times.
  21. Web site: DANIEL SCHORR WEIGHS MERITS OF CABLE TV. Peter W.. Kaplan. February 27, 1985. The New York Times.
  22. Web site: Daniel Schorr, Journalist, Dies at 93. Robert D. Jr.. Hershey. July 23, 2010. The New York Times.
  23. Web site: Haskell Cohen, 86, Publicist; Created N.B.A. All-Star Game. Richard. Goldstein. July 3, 2000. The New York Times.
  24. Web site: HAROLD U. RIBALOW, WRITER ON JEWISH THEMES. October 26, 1982. The New York Times.
  25. Web site: Eleazar Lipsky, 81, a Prosecutor, Lawyer, Novelist and Playwright. Eric. Pace. February 15, 1993. The New York Times.
  26. Web site: 'BRIDGE OF SIGHS' DUE ON BROADWAY; Ex-District Attorney's Play Reflects His Experiences. Sam. Zolotow. August 30, 1966. The New York Times.
  27. Book: Himmelfarb . Milton . American Jewish Year Book . Singer . David . 1982 . American Jewish Committee . 978-0-8276-0221-2 . 363 . en. https://books.google.com/books?id=NcsjRyNtUogC&q=%22commission+for+investigation+of+economic+discrimination+against+Jews%2C+1933-44%22
  28. Web site: 1981-04-16. Lillie Shultz Dead at 77. 2021-01-20. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. en-US.
  29. Web site: Boris Smolar, Retired Editor of Jewish Telegraphic Agency. February 14, 1986. The New York Times.
  30. News: Philissa Cramer named editor in chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency . 1 November 2023 . . 2020-01-14.
  31. Web site: Fledgling Jewish News Service Rocks Boat With Strident Pro-Israel Message. June 28, 2013. The Forward.
  32. News: Nathan-Kazis. Josh. Fledgling Jewish News Service Rocks Boat With Strident Pro-Israel Message . June 28, 2013 . .
  33. Web site: About the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  34. Web site: JTA and MJL merge to create 70 Faces Media. 2015-01-05. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. en-US. 2019-03-06.
  35. Web site: 70 Faces Media Connecting people to all sides of the unfolding Jewish story. 70facesmedia.org. 2019-05-13.
  36. Web site: Hanau . Shira . 2021-07-15 . Julia Haart has a message for 'My Unorthodox Life' critics: Watch before you judge me . 2023-06-01 . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . en-US.
  37. Web site: Hanau . Shira . 2021-07-16 . 'My Unorthodox Life' Star Julia Haart Tells Us Why She's Sharing Her Story . 2023-06-01 . Kveller . en.
  38. Web site: Schleier . Curt . 2018-03-22 . The creator of Netflix's 'Jessica Jones' is becoming a feminist icon in the #MeToo era . 2023-06-01 . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . en-US.
  39. News: The Creator of Netflix's 'Jessica Jones' Is Becoming a Feminist Icon . en . Haaretz . 2023-06-01.
  40. Web site: Disney+ documentary traces Idina Menzel's rise, from bat mitzvah circuit to Broadway The Times of Israel . 2023-06-01 . www.timesofisrael.com.
  41. Web site: Rockart . Ella . 2021-09-01 . Ezra Furman has sung about God in her indie rock. Now she's going to rabbinical school. . 2023-06-01 . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . en-US.
  42. Web site: 2022-04-05 . Ezra Furman's new song is inspired by her experience 'as a Jew and as a trans woman' . 2023-06-01 . The Forward . en.
  43. Web site: Kampeas . Ron . 2009-12-23 . Carter: Grandson's race not reason enough to apologize . 2023-06-01 . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . en-US.
  44. Web site: James . Frank . December 23, 2009 . Jimmy Carter Apologizes For Criticizing Israel . June 1, 2023 . NPR.
  45. News: Address of Dr. Einstein at Dinner in His Honor Here. The New York Times.
  46. News: JEWISH NEWS AGENCY MARKS 25TH YEAR; Gets Messages From the President and Other Notables. The New York Times.
  47. Web site: AJPA - 2021 Competition . 2023-10-05 . www.ajpa.org.
  48. Web site: AJPA - 2022 Competition . 2023-10-05 . www.ajpa.org.
  49. Web site: July 11, 2023 . 2023 Awards (for work done in 2022) . October 5, 2023 . American Jewish Press Association.

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