OPINION: Jewish media should take its lead from our American cousins

When you visit America you know what to expect. Everything is so big – family cars the size of minibuses; dinner plates piled to mountainous heights; single occupancy hotel rooms that have two king-size beds (what is that all about?). 

As I witnessed on my visit to Atlanta, Georgia, last month, the States are also home to a Jewish media landscape that dwarfs anything we see in Britain and across continental Europe combined.

My presence at the American Jewish Press Association’s annual conference was primarily to present an award for writing about education issues on behalf of my organisation, World ORT, the global education network driven by Jewish values, and our American fundraising arm, ORT America.

But as a former journalist myself, what I also experienced was a thought-provoking insight into the changing role of Jewish media organisations.

In a crowded market the American publications have been forced to do whatever they can to diversify their products

Publications with exotic titles such as the Intermountain Jewish News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the St Louis Jewish Light were among those represented. The journalists and news executives themselves were a similarly colourful bunch. But for all their joviality they had a less happy story to report.

In a crowded market the American publications have been forced to do whatever they can to diversify their products, add extra value and – in contrast to what we have seen in Britain – co-operate with each other to ensure their collective survival.

Many are long-standing, well-respected titles struggling to hold back waves of challenges: the soaring cost of printing, plummeting advertising revenue, ageing readers whose children and grandchildren have not bought a newspaper for years and probably never will do again. Sounds familiar?

The state of British media – Jewish or not – is a microcosm of this.

American Jewish publications – in contrast to what we have seen in Britain – co-operate with each other to ensure their collective survival

To their credit, the long-suffering hacks spent little time dwelling on the worst impacts of the pandemic, instead sharing tips on what they were doing to alleviate the pressure. Some were more novel than others. Encouraging local funeral homes to sponsor the obituaries page and death announcements was less common than branching out into events – the Cleveland Jewish News had recently hosted a highly-successful in-person evening with Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody – and moving beyond news coverage to produce glossy lifestyle magazines.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Bret Stephens presented a withering analysis of the US media’s many ills and the industry’s almost total fall from grace in the eyes of a distrusting public. But he also lamented the state of a society in which 130 million American adults cannot read above the level of a 12-year-old.

His strongest criticism was reserved for the impact of social media on the traditional media and its readers. Stephens questioned the media’s unwillingness to act as a counter-cultural force. Why not present more good news stories about people being nice to each other? Why pander to online algorithms that promote nastiness, rather than give people what they really want?

Our British Jewish media arena may be smaller than on the other side of the Atlantic, but if our publications can follow the American blueprint  then they too can be a source of pride for our community

That positive approach is one we see daily at ORT – and which our tens of thousands of students actively pursue and promote. Our schools, universities and vocational training programmes in more than 30 countries are packed with young people whose priorities appear somewhat different to their elders’.

They are passionate about climate change and projects promoting sustainability. They understand what it means to be a global citizen in an increasingly interconnected world. And they are committed to understanding their Jewish history and gaining the skills they need for life after the classroom. They are, in short, mensches, and their positivity gives us hope for the future.

Our British Jewish media arena may be smaller than on the other side of the Atlantic, but if our publications can follow the American blueprint and invest in telling great stories while providing fresh opportunities, then they too can be a source of pride for our community for many years to come.

• Marcus is head of external affairs at ORT