Like many news publications, The Jewish Week was pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic. Now it has a new owner.
The 46-year-old outlet, which serves New York’s large Jewish population, now belongs to 70 Faces Media, a nonprofit publisher of several Jewish-interest sites and a wire service, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, said Ami Eden, 70 Faces’s chief executive and executive editor. The Jewish Week and 70 Faces Media were to announce the arrangement on Monday.
In July, The Jewish Week laid off staff and suspended its print edition in the wake of heavy advertising losses caused, in part, by the pandemic. Its purchase by another news outlet is another instance of consolidation in the local news industry.
The Jewish Week recently raised money from donors to cover pay owed to freelancers, said Kai Falkenberg, president of The Jewish Week’s board.
There are no plans to revive the print edition of Jewish Week, which had a circulation of 40,000 in 2019, Mr. Eden saids. The Jewish Week’s editor in chief, Andrew Silow-Carroll, a former top editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, will continue to run The Jewish Week.
“Jewish media is experiencing the same absolute crisis that other local news has, and it’s been exacerbated during the pandemic,” said Philissa Cramer, editor in chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “To imagine local Jewish communities without robust coverage is a shame, and I’d like to be part of a solution that can imagine a sustainable pathway.”
Other 70 Faces Media sites include Kveller, for parents; Alma, for young people; and The Nosher, which covers food.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nytimes.com