Turning pages on our calendar and our paper

By Paul Haist

article created on: 2008-09-15T00:00:00

The new Jewish year brings with it the continuing prospect of change at the Jewish Review.

In 2008, we reclaimed the advertising sales function from our longtime partner Community Newspapers, Inc. We did this in order to capture ad-sales revenue, build that revenue and, in so doing, build the paper by increasing the number of pages we can publish in each new edition. This will enable us also to increase the breadth and depth of coverage we provide.

Broader coverage attracts more readers and more readers attract more advertisers and more advertisers mean more revenue. It’s a circular cycle the sum of which is a better and more stable newspaper.

We made the decision to do this at a time when print media generally and newspapers specifically are having a difficult time because of the dramatically changing environment in which information of all kinds is disseminated, including—most importantly for newspaper survival—advertising. Newspaper readers are turning in huge numbers to the Internet for news, and advertisers are following them.

All major newspapers in the United States have significantly reduced their staffs through layoffs and buyouts in 2007 and 2008, owing to deeply sagging ad sales.

Niche or special-interest newspapers such as the Jewish Review are faring better than the big papers because they offer coverage that is largely unavailable through others sources at the local level. That is, they remain a vital and sought-after source of information while also offering an advertising channel that is narrowly targeted, which makes it easy for advertisers to deliver their message to special audiences.

However, while the Jewish Review and its fellow special-interest papers are largely holding their own today, they are far from safe from the problematic effects of the Internet.

At the recent annual meeting of the American Jewish Press Association in Washington, D.C., there was one constant drumbeat. That was the necessity for Jewish newspapers to diversify their publishing activities with alternative publications in print and most especially on the Internet.

The Jewish Review pioneered among the Jewish press on the Internet. It was the first Jewish newspaper in the world also to publish on the Internet. It went online in 1994.

It has been a bumpy ride for the Review on the Internet owing to no regular funding commitment, but in recent years our Web presence has become stable and reliable. In the last year JewishReview.org has achieved state-of-the-art status technologically owing to a grant from the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation. We are using that grant to improve our Web presence as a medium of communication and to transform it as a source of advertising revenue.

Now, under our new business model, independent of Community Newspapers, Inc., we can sell our own advertising, both for print and online. It is our goal to sell to such a level that we can routinely provide greatly expanded coverage with more pages in the print edition while providing daily coverage of breaking news on the Web site, including interactive features and, in time, a second Web site by and about young Jews.

Our expanding coverage in the print edition is made possible by a grant from the Judith and Edwin Cohen Foundation of Vestal, N.Y. Their gift will cover for one year the cost of acquiring the new range of stories while we develop advertising support for that coverage.

It was as the U.S. economy sailed into troubled waters that we began to implement the changes that are at the center of our new business model. In spite of the financial uncertainty that comes in an economic downturn, we have succeeded thus far in building our gross advertising revenue from edition to edition.

As the new Jewish year begins to unfold, the secular year of 2008 will come to an end. The new secular year, 2009, marks the 50th anniversary of the Jewish Review. That milepost will be celebrated appropriately. Members of the Jewish Review Committee and others in the community are already hard at work planning a splendid occasion. Our anniversary also will be celebrated in these pages.

But most importantly, the 50th anniversary of our Jewish newspaper should be celebrated by making sure it is prepared to remain a truly meaningful and useful tool for our Jewish community for the next 50 years, in whatever form may be necessary in our rapidly changing world—and to become even more useful wherever possible.

The Jewish Review encompasses the entire community and therefore may be the single most significant unifying force we have. At least 8,000 people see the Jewish Review twice a month.

I hope that by expanding our coverage and building our revenue base we can cement the newspaper’s role as a place where every Jew will feel welcome and at home.

You play an indispensable role in what the paper is and may become. I hope that you will participate in the changes we are making by sharing with us what you want the Jewish Review to be.

Shanah Tovah.