IMITOrS WATCH
Opinion: Bedrock Of
The Jewish News
Detroit Jewish community.
Like most Anglo-Jewish newspa-
pers, we strive to be a primary source
of local news, information and enter-
tainment. From Jewish education to
anti-Semitism, from the Jewish Feder-
ation of Metropolitan Detroit to the
Jewish Community Center
eaders of The Jew-
of Metropolitan Detroit,
ish News can be
from birth announcements
quick to criticize
to death notices, from hon-
us for something
ored personalities to stun-
we've printed. I can vouch
ning pronouncements, from
\,=, for that.
new restaurants to kosher
Recent letters to the edi-
recipes — that's the scope of
tor castigated us for rapping
our
beat.
some of Israeli Prime Minis-
So
is a sampling of Knes-
ter Binyamin Netanyahu's
set
news
coming out of
policies, for coverage that
ROBE RT A.
Israel,
philanthropic
news
dwelled on shortcomings of
SKL AR
coming
out
of
New
York
the 1998 JCC Maccabi
Edi for
and congressional news com-
Games, and for cover art-
ing out of Washington.
work that tried to illustrate
I
can't
stress enough, however,
the changing face of DMC/Sinai Hos-
that
we
also
strive to be a strong, inde-
pital.
pendent
voice
for the American ideals
No matter.
of
representative
democracy and citi-
I'm delighted the letter writers took
zen
participation.
the time to express their feelings, criti-
Consider the pages we devote to
cal as they were, about something they
editorial
opinion, plus guest and staff
The
Jewish
News.
saw in
views. Together, these pages represent
National Newspaper Week, which
the bedrock of The Jewish News.
runs from Oct. 4-10, is a perfect time
They're
meant to persuade, prick,
to be thankful that freedom of expres-
praise
and
provoke. When they don't,
sion is a basic part of our lives as
they
fall
short
in keeping readers inter-
Americans. For people who call
ested,
informed
and involved.
Belarus, Albania, Iraq, Iran, Cuba,
In
editorials,
we — as a community
Romania, China, Bulgaria or the
watchdog and spokesperson — pre-
Czech Republic home, that freedom is
sent our points of view and suggested
severely limited.
courses of action. In personal
I'mproud of the idea-forging role
columns, we share a potpourri of
that The Jewish News plays in the
An unconditional right to say what one
pleases about public affairs is what I
\— consider
to be the minimum guarantee
,
of the First Amendment.
— U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Hugo Black
hometown, state or even country to
view a special exhibition. The Cha-
gals were in Paris this summer, the
van Goghs were in Washington,
D.C., and the Vatican's angels came
to Detroit.
Fortunately, for metro Detroiters,
we have Tyree Guyton's Heidelberg
Street Project. The unique installation,
which takes up a whole city block, has
been given honors from the City of
Detroit, major art museums and, of
course, from the international media.
Yet, when I mention the multileveled
impact this major "street art" leaves
me with, most of my friends have not
a clue as to what I'm talking about.
Honestly, were if it not for a photog-
rapher from The Jewish News with
whom I chatted at a "Rekindling
Shabbat" Havdalah service last spring,
I would be left in the dark as well.
I had wanted his opinion con-
cerning a good camera for a photo
essay I had planned. "What's your
subject?" he asked. I replied,
"Trash." I thought maybe he would
think I'm nuts. Instead, his eyes
opened wide and he only said in an
awed tone, "You must experience
Heidelberg." I'm thanking him now.
For the uninitiated, here's how you
get there: 1-75 to Mack, east on
Mack to Mt. Elliot, turn right.
Right on Heidelberg Street. A map
of the area, plus a wealth of infor-
mation about the huge work of art
created from everyone's discarded
junk, can be obtained from a visit to
the Web site, heidelberg.org . Don't
waste any time. The City Council of
Detroit wants to dismantle the
entire project, no small feat when
you consider the project includes
insights. In letters, we let you, our
loyal readers, respond to something
we've printed. The common link is
opinion — sometimes harsh, some-
times upbeat, but hopefully educated
and stimulating.
Relevance, accuracy, fairness —
they're the engines driving these gener-
ators of commentary. We encourage
all forms of
opinion equally,
as evidenced by
the space we
devote to opin-
ion — ours,
yours and others
— each Friday.
It has been writ-
ten that a news-
paper at its best
is a community
talking to itself.
Ben Franklin,
a colonial print-
er when he was-
n't serving as a
statesman or inventor, perceptively
captured why newspaper publishers
and editors constantly second-guess
themselves: "If all printers were deter-
mined not to print anything till they
were sure it would offend nobody,
there would be very little printed."
In short, senior editors here at The
Jewish News try to be sensitive to what
we print. Ultimately, it's a judgment
call that public scrutiny will either
strengthen or cause us to revisit.
As we work to reinforce why you
should keep us as an information
several abandoned homes, trees,
yards and the sidewalks.
I asked Mr. Guyton how he was
dealing with the threat looming over
his magnum opus — 12 years of dis-
playing heaps of old TVs, rows of
vacuum cleaners, zillions of toys, ad
infinitum. He said it was really God's
decision. He and his supporters have
been praying a lot, too.
His PR man was handling quite
a crowd, but managed to share some
time to explain to me some of the
Jewish-related issues expressed in
the work: persecution, oppression,
hangings, homelessness, interracial
harmony, salvation of a neighbor-
hood using good deeds, children's
involvement in art and even the ele-
vation of souls. Needless to say, I
got it.
"It appears you have created a
source of choice, we also must deepen
our commitment to helping you think
in different ways and consider differ-
ent directions — within the bounds of
good taste and cogent thought.
You may not agree with our views
or those of our columnists, and that's
fine with us. Disagree with tact and
decency in a letter we can print. That's
the beauty of
freedom of
expression. You
can debate
what's on your
mind in a briar
patch of dissent
— without fear
of reprisal.
Colonial
journalist and
printer John
Peter Zenger
staged the first
great fight for
press freedoms
in 1735 when
he won jury acquittal of libel
charges. In this 163rd anniversary
year of his famous trial, remember
that commentary you read in The
Jewish News helps you keep your fin-
ger on the Detroit Jewish communi-
ty's vibrant pulse. ❑
To leave a voice mail message for
Robert Sklar, please call (248)
354-6060, ext. 258.
meeting place for all souls right
here," I said. We sighed as a news
truck from Channel 2 descended in
front of the main polka-dot house. A
group of students stood transfixed in
front of a tree strewn with tele-
phones. Some kids gazed at columns
of ghostly trousers swinging in the
breeze.
We whizzed home, passing the
vapid environment of urban blight.
My head was reeling with energy.
Not only for the art, but for the
good intentions that ptit this whole
project into a category of its own. At
this highly reflective time of the Jew-
ish New Year, I couldn't help but
envy a person who could aid our
morally impoverished society as a
whole. To think, he did it with trash.
Chana Finman
Oak Park
10/2
1998
Detroit Jewish News
35