Jump to content

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Company typeNot-for-profit news agency
IndustryNews media
FoundedFebruary 6, 1917;107 years ago(1917-02-06)
FounderJacob Landau
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Ami Eden, CEO and executive editor
  • Philissa Cramer, Editor-in-Chief
ProductsWire service[1]
Parent70 Faces Media
Websitejta.orgEdit this at Wikidata

TheJewish Telegraphic Agency(JTA) is an internationalnews agencyandwire servicethat primarily covers Judaism- and Jewish-related topics and news. Described as the "Associated Pressof the Jewish media ", JTA serves Jewish and non-Jewish newspapers and press around the world as a syndication partner. Founded in 1917, it isworld Jewry's oldest and most widely-read wire service.

History[edit]

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was founded inThe Hague,Netherlands, as the first Jewishnews agencyandwire service,then known as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau on February 6, 1917, by 25-year oldJacob 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, theGestapo(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 Britishintelligence serviceMI6.[15]ONA providedpress credentialsto British spies, and planted fake news stories in US newspapers.[15]Meyer Levinwas awar correspondentin 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 inWashington, 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 withjournalistic 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 create70 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.[19][18]

Staff[edit]

Landau, JTA's original publisher, later foundedThe Palestine Bulletin,an English-language broadsheet published inMandatory Palestinein 1925.The Palestine Bulletineventually becameThe Jerusalem Post.[20]

JournalistDaniel Schorrbegan his career as an assistant news editor for the JTA from 1934 to 1941.[21][22][23]

Haskell Cohenwas the sports editor for the JTA for 17 years; he is best known for later as theNBAdirector of public relations creating theNBA All Star Gamein 1951.[24]Harold U. Ribalowwas later the sports editor of the JTA.[25]In the 1960s, novelist and lawyerEleazar Lipskywas the JTA's president.[26][27]

Lillie Shultz,later a journalist and the chief administrative officer of theAmerican Jewish Congress,was a staff member of the JTA in the early 1930s.[28][29]

Editors-in-Chief[edit]

Boris Smolarjoined the JTA in 1924, and retired as its editor-in chief in 1967.[30]

In January 2020, Philissa Cramer, co-founder and editor-at-large of nonprofit news organizationChalkbeatwas named JTA's editor-in-chief. Cramer replaced Andy Silow-Carroll, who took the same post atNew York Jewish Weekin mid-2019 after three years at the helm.[31]

Editorial policy[edit]

The JTA is anot-for-profit corporationgoverned by an independent board of directors. It claims no allegiance to any specific branch ofJudaismor 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 theMavi Marmaraactivist ship.[32]JTA is officially apolitical and non-denominational in its coverage of Judaism and Jewish-related topics.[18]

JTA is considered the "Associated Pressof Jewish media ". JTA's main competitor is the more conservativeJewish News Syndicate,launched in 2011.[33]JTA is stillworld Jewry's oldest and most widely-read wire service.[18]

JTA is an affiliate of70 Faces Media,a not-for-profit American media company.[34][19]Other sites under the 70 Faces Media company include Kveller,Alma,and Nosher.[35]

Notable interviews[edit]

Reception[edit]

In 1933,Nobel PrizewinnerAlbert Einsteinsaid 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" ), andU.S. Secretary of WarHenry Stimson,British AmbassadorLord Halifax,Director of theU.S. Office of War Department of Facts and FiguresArchibald MacLeish,Director of the U.S. Office of Government ReportsLowell Mellett,andBenjamin V. Cohenof the U.S. National Power Policy Committee.[46]

Awards[edit]

In 2021, JTA received tenSimon 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[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Joe Sterling (January 22, 2012)."Jewish paper's column catches Secret Service's eye".CNN.RetrievedOctober 14,2013.
  2. ^"Jacob Landau, Founder of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Dies in N.Y."Jewish Telegraphic Agency.February 1, 1952.RetrievedAugust 9,2023.
  3. ^Israel's Impact, 1950-51: A Personal Record.University Press of America. 1984.ISBN9780819141262.
  4. ^American Jewish Committee, Jewish Publication Society of America (1920).American Jewish Year Book.RetrievedJune 30,2011.
  5. ^Willard Learoyd Sperry (1971).Religion and our divided denominations.Books for Libraries Press.ISBN9780836922011.RetrievedJune 30,2011.
  6. ^abcYIVO Archives, Fruma Mohrer, Marek Web, Yivo Institute for Jewish Research (1998).Guide to the YIVO Archives.M.E. Sharpe.ISBN9780765601308.RetrievedJune 30,2011.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^Otto Dov Kulka (1998).Deutsches Judentum unter dem Nationalsozialismus.Mohr Siebeck.ISBN9783161472671.RetrievedJune 30,2011.
  8. ^abcJonathan D. Sarna. "The American Jewish Press".The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media(PDF).Oxford University Press. p. 544. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on March 4, 2016.RetrievedApril 28,2014.
  9. ^"Rumania Halts Landau; Efforts of New Yorker Frees Jewish Telegraph Agency Head".NYTimes.May 13, 1927.
  10. ^Isaiah Berlin; Henry Hardy (2004).Isaiah Berlin; Letters, 1928–1946.Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521833684.RetrievedJune 30,2011.
  11. ^Verena Dohrn (2009)."Diplomacy in the Diaspora: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency in Berlin (1922–1933)".Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook.Archived fromthe originalon July 10, 2012.RetrievedJune 30,2011.
  12. ^abThe Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media.Oup USA. September 6, 2012.ISBN978-0-19-539506-8.
  13. ^"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. ^"Overseas News Agency Launched".JTA.July 14, 1940.
  15. ^abPJ Grisar (October 22, 2018)."Sharks Defending Britain From Nazis? How 'Fake News' Helped Foil Hitler".The Forward.
  16. ^Fuchs, Daniel (January 3, 1982)."THE LIFE OF MEYER LEVIN".The New York Times.
  17. ^Mitgang, Herbert (July 11, 1981)."MEYER LEVIN, WRITER, 75, DIES; BOOKS INCLUDED 'COMPULSION'".The New York Times.
  18. ^abcdGuttman, Nathan (January 14, 2014)."JTA To Merge With My Jewish Learning To Create New Jewish Platform".The Forward.RetrievedNovember 1,2023.
  19. ^ab"JTA and MJL merge to create 70 Faces Media".Jewish Telegraphic Agency.January 5, 2015.RetrievedMarch 6,2019.
  20. ^Michael D. Birnhack (2012).Colonial Copyright: Intellectual Property in Mandate Palestine.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-163719-3.
  21. ^Arnold, Martin (February 27, 1976)."Controversial Reporter".The New York Times.
  22. ^Kaplan, Peter W. (February 27, 1985)."DANIEL SCHORR WEIGHS MERITS OF CABLE TV".The New York Times.
  23. ^Hershey, Robert D. Jr. (July 23, 2010)."Daniel Schorr, Journalist, Dies at 93".The New York Times.
  24. ^Goldstein, Richard (July 3, 2000)."Haskell Cohen, 86, Publicist; Created N.B.A. All-Star Game".The New York Times.
  25. ^"HAROLD U. RIBALOW, WRITER ON JEWISH THEMES".The New York Times.October 26, 1982.
  26. ^Pace, Eric (February 15, 1993)."Eleazar Lipsky, 81, a Prosecutor, Lawyer, Novelist and Playwright".The New York Times.
  27. ^Zolotow, Sam (August 30, 1966)."'BRIDGE OF SIGHS' DUE ON BROADWAY; Ex-District Attorney's Play Reflects His Experiences ".The New York Times.
  28. ^Himmelfarb, Milton; Singer, David (1982).American Jewish Year Book.American Jewish Committee. p. 363.ISBN978-0-8276-0221-2.[1]
  29. ^"Lillie Shultz Dead at 77".Jewish Telegraphic Agency.April 16, 1981.RetrievedJanuary 20,2021.
  30. ^"Boris Smolar, Retired Editor of Jewish Telegraphic Agency".The New York Times.February 14, 1986.
  31. ^"Philissa Cramer named editor in chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency".Cleveland Jewish News.January 14, 2020.RetrievedNovember 1,2023.
  32. ^"Fledgling Jewish News Service Rocks Boat With Strident Pro-Israel Message".The Forward.June 28, 2013.
  33. ^Nathan-Kazis, Josh."Fledgling Jewish News Service Rocks Boat With Strident Pro-Israel Message".The Forward.RetrievedJune 28,2013.
  34. ^"About the Jewish Telegraphic Agency".
  35. ^"70 Faces Media | | Connecting people to all sides of the unfolding Jewish story".70facesmedia.org.RetrievedMay 13,2019.
  36. ^Hanau, Shira (July 15, 2021)."Julia Haart has a message for 'My Unorthodox Life' critics: Watch before you judge me".Jewish Telegraphic Agency.RetrievedJune 1,2023.
  37. ^Hanau, Shira (July 16, 2021)."'My Unorthodox Life' Star Julia Haart Tells Us Why She's Sharing Her Story ".Kveller.RetrievedJune 1,2023.
  38. ^Schleier, Curt (March 22, 2018)."The creator of Netflix's 'Jessica Jones' is becoming a feminist icon in the #MeToo era".Jewish Telegraphic Agency.RetrievedJune 1,2023.
  39. ^"The Creator of Netflix's 'Jessica Jones' Is Becoming a Feminist Icon".Haaretz.RetrievedJune 1,2023.
  40. ^"Disney+ documentary traces Idina Menzel's rise, from bat mitzvah circuit to Broadway | The Times of Israel".timesofisrael.RetrievedJune 1,2023.
  41. ^Rockart, Ella (September 1, 2021)."Ezra Furman has sung about God in her indie rock. Now she's going to rabbinical school".Jewish Telegraphic Agency.RetrievedJune 1,2023.
  42. ^"Ezra Furman's new song is inspired by her experience 'as a Jew and as a trans woman'".The Forward.April 5, 2022.RetrievedJune 1,2023.
  43. ^Kampeas, Ron (December 23, 2009)."Carter: Grandson's race not reason enough to apologize".Jewish Telegraphic Agency.RetrievedJune 1,2023.
  44. ^James, Frank (December 23, 2009)."Jimmy Carter Apologizes For Criticizing Israel".NPR.RetrievedJune 1,2023.
  45. ^"Address of Dr. Einstein at Dinner in His Honor Here".The New York Times.
  46. ^"JEWISH NEWS AGENCY MARKS 25TH YEAR; Gets Messages From the President and Other Notables".The New York Times.
  47. ^"AJPA - 2021 Competition".ajpa.org.RetrievedOctober 5,2023.
  48. ^"AJPA - 2022 Competition".ajpa.org.RetrievedOctober 5,2023.
  49. ^"2023 Awards (for work done in 2022)"(PDF).American Jewish Press Association.July 11, 2023.RetrievedOctober 5,2023.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jewish_Telegraphic_Agency&oldid=1225503354"