Publisher's Notebook
jarc
www.jarc.org
How The JN Unites Us
T
he economic environment impacting Southeastern
Michigan has touched all parts of the Detroit Jewish
community. Our families, businesses and communal
institutions are under financial duress, with no bright light
of recovery visible at the end of the tunnel.
At the Jewish News, we have been
impacted by a triple-whammy: a
receding economy, a core industry
— newspapers — that is imploding
before our eyes, and shaky financial
institutions that treat all print media
properties as lepers.
With the Detroit dailies heading to
three-day-a-week home delivery, the
Oakland Press and Macomb Daily in
bankruptcy and Gannett Company,
the parent of the Observer &
Eccentric Group and the Detroit Free
Press, cutting its shareholder dividends by 95 percent, the
secular press is hemorrhaging readers and advertisers.
As a niche publication serving a loyal audience still val-
ued by advertisers, the Jewish News is
insulated — slightly — from the pow-
erful downward trends. Our quantity
of advertising has declined, not a good
thing when the amount of space avail-
able for editorial content is tied to the
amount of advertising. Our reader base
is relatively stable and continues to
reflect the overall Jewish community's
demographic profile.
In 2002, the Jewish News survived
a devastating fire that burned its
Southfield offices to the ground. With
the stench of wet and burned lumber,
paper and plastic still in their nostrils,
the Jewish News staff rallied and pro-
duced that week's issue — with our
burning building on the cover — one
day late. We were energized by your
remarkable outpouring of concern
and support. You reminded us that our
work mattered.
While our current office space is con-
structed of bricks and steel and has a
sprinkler system, we are confronting a
different kind of vulnerability because
of these economic and industry trends.
Most communities support their Jewish
periodical with subsidies, often from
their annual Jewish federation fund-
raising campaigns. In many of those
communities, content is controlled by those federations.
As an independent, for-profit entity, the Jewish News
receives no subsidies. It relies on advertiser and subscrip-
tion dollars. We have maintained our editorial and design
quality while significantly reducing staff positions and over-
head. For the fourth time in five years, the Michigan Press
Association selected the Jewish News as the best publication
in the state in its circulation category. Meanwhile, as a good
citizen, we continued to partner with communal organiza-
tions, giving them almost $200,000 worth of advertising in
2008 to help support their worthy causes.
So during these challenging economic times, I ask that we
all do our part to strengthen the glue that holds our corn-
munity together — the Jewish News.
Here's how:
• Buy your goods and services from Jewish News advertis-
ers whenever possible. These are mostly local businesspeo-
ple. They are your neighbors, friends, former schoolmates
and even family. By supporting them, you are supporting us.
Tell them you saw their advertisement in the Jewish News.
Spread it around ... don't buy everything at Costco, Walmart
and Target.
• Buy your own subscription to the Jewish News or pur-
chase one for friends. There is a habit among some in our
community to pass the same copy of the Jewish News to as
many people as possible. Please, help us by breaking that
habit and buying more subscriptions!
• The cost to print and mail the Jewish News continues to
grow while overall advertising volume is down. We will be
asking our subscribers to shoulder a slightly larger share of
the revenue needed to maintain our quality. Effective April
2, a one-year subscription to the Jewish News will be $69,
approximately 17 cents a week more
than currently. For those who want to
lock in a more attractive rate, we ask
JtionlIne.us
that you consider two-year or three-
year subscription renewals.
• Prod your favorite community non-
profit organizations and charities to
pay their "fair share" for advertising in
the Jewish News. Some of them don't
it . Screen realize that we can't, and will not, be
to give them the free advertising
rtunity able
support they request (and occasionally
demand) if they don't support us.
Since its founding in 1942 by the
visionary Philip Slomovitz and with
financial support from local Jewish
inside: Business Section
communal leaders Fred Butzel, Maurice
Schwartz, Henry Wineman, Abraham
Srere, Theodore Levin, Maurice
Aronsson and Isidore Sobeloff, you
have told us time and again how
important we are in your lives. The
immortal Detroiter David B. Hermelin
said he believed the Jewish News to be
the Detroit Jewish community's sturdy
"backyard fence where information,
news and ideas were exchanged among
neighbors and an enduring sense of
shared responsibility was created and
nurtured.
As we navigate these challenging
times, thank you for your continuing support and embrace
of the Jewish News and for enabling us to build on our
record of service to the community. 0
1.1.7,,D,”.10-71. • linti.11
.
I ask that we all do
our part to strengthen
the glue that holds our
community together:
the Jewish News.
We take
Tributes
personally
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PHONE 248.538.6611
FAX 248.538.6615
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March 12 • 2009
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