I BEHIND THE HEADLINES

"We thought impotence had to be
permanent, but we were wrong:'

What Really Happened
At The Jerusalem Post?

LOUIS RAPOPORT

Special to The Jewish News

W

There's a treatment for impotence that has helped 150,000 men
since 1975 . . . 25,000 of them in 1988 alone. These men and their
partners can now enjoy fuller, more satisfying lives and
relationships.
Can this treatment, or one of the other options available, help
someone you love?
A free booklet called "Impotence: Causes and Treatments"
explains how this treatment works and the type of impotence it can
help. After reading the booklet, you and your partner may wish to
talk with one of our doctors who specializes in the treatment of
impotence.

To arrange an appointment with one of our Urologists,
Please call:

Urology Associates, P.C.

17100 W. Twelve Mile Rd., Southfield, Mich. 48076
(313) 557-1866

SHOES

3 CRAZY DAYS

FRI. 10.6

JAN. 26

Sat. 10-6

JAN. 27

•SUN. 124 JAN. 28•

ALL FALL SHOES $45.00 OR LESS
ALL FALL BOOTS $75.00 OR LESS

The Boardwalk • W. Bloomfield • 737-9059

52

FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1990

hat really happened
during the recent
walkout at the
Jerusalem Post was a grab
for power that failed, but you
would never know it if you
rely on the media for your
information.
That also goes for the
Hebrew press. This past
weekend, Kol Ha'ir, the
leading Jerusalem weekly,
devoted more than two full
pages to the words of many
of the 30 "rebels" who left
the Post.
But there was not one
word from the other side.
There was also no word from
the 300 workers, including
50 other journalists, who did
not leave the Post.
Their livelihood has been
seriously undermined by the
so-called "Gang of Nine"
and the 21 news people who
let themselves be coerced
into leaving along with
them.
The story has special in-
terest to me. I was a senior
editor at the Post for 13
years until I left in 1987. I've
been back there this week,
and talked to the people who
stayed.
The Post's editorial writer,
Yaacov Reuel, who didn't
leave, was among those Post
oldtimers who were stunned
by what he called the
yellow journalism"
yellow
displayed by most of the
Hebrew newspapers. "This
is crusading journalism?
This is the truth? No wonder
the trade has such a bad
name," he said.
Unlike the Israeli press,
most of the foreign news bu-
reaus did at least get a token
quote or two from the Cana-
dian owner of the paper,
David Radler, and from the
Israeli whom he appointed
as publisher, Yehuda Levy.
But without exception, all
the media sided with the re-
bels, led by former manag-
ing editor David Landau,
over what was painted as a
fight between crusading
journalists and a reactionary
management.
Another columnist and
reporter who stayed, Robert
Rosenberg, who shares the
same leftist political views
as the rebels, characterized
Landau's schism as
something reminiscent of
the Jim Jones sect whose
members committed mass
suicide at Jonestown.

"

"When are they going to br-
ing out the Kool-Aid?" he
asked at one of the stormy
staff meetings.
The rebels supposedly quit
in sympathy with longtime
editor Erwin Frenkel, who
resigned, properly, after one
of his editorials, criticizing
Prime Minister Shamir for
publicly assailing the Post as

Erwin Frenkel:
Editorial banned.
a negativist paper, was
banned from the interna-
tional edition by order of the
new publisher, Levy.
Until this summer, the
Post was a Labor Party
paper, a jewel in the crown of
Koor, the giant Labor- own-
ed conglomerate which has
crumbled in the face of an
ocean of red ink.
The paper was bought by
Hollinger Inc., a Canadian-
based newspaper chain
whose holdings include the
most conservative British
newspapers, the Daily Tele-
graph and the Sunday Tele-
graph.
Radler, the Jewish partner
in this organization, outbid
such media giants as Robert
Maxwell, and the billionaire
Bronfmans and the
Australian Pratts, to buy the
Post for $17 million, plus
taking on the paper's $3
million debt. That debt was
the result of indulgence and
mismanagement by the
editors.
They took trips to South
America to "cover" Presi-
dent Herzog's recent visit
there, trips to Europe and
America, weekends at the
Dan Hotel in Herziliya, new
cars for editors who worked
only a few hours a week at
the Post, devoting most of
their time to "moonlight"
jobs.

(