10 | NOVEMBER 19 • 2020 

S

ince the election, I have 
been reflecting on how 
the Jewish News covered 
this year’
s campaign, and if we 
lived up to our mission of meet-
ing the information needs of our 
community.
One story was 
especially conten-
tious among hun-
dreds of our read-
ers. It concerned 
Michigan State 
Rep. Ryan Berman, 
a Republican who 
just won reelection.
During the campaign, the 
Oakland County Democratic 
Party and other groups circu-
lated releases that sought to tie 
Berman, a member of Temple 
Israel, to “militias.
” The evidence 
was flimsy: a couple of out-of-
context photos of Berman. 
These allegations arose after 
the FBI publicly thwarted an 
actual antigovernment militia’
s 
kidnapping plot against Gov. 
Gretchen Whitmer (Berman 
forcefully condemned the plot).
We ignored the “militias” 
release at first. But as the elec-
tion drew nearer, the accusation 
seemed to be gathering steam. 
We all know how disinformation 
can circulate through a commu-
nity when trusted news outlets 
ignore it. So as Michigan’
s Jewish 
paper of record, we made a judg-
ment call. We felt it was our duty 
to report on them and call atten-
tion to the facts. 
We talked to Berman himself. 
He issued a forceful denial of the 
accusation and provided context 
for the photos, which we com-
municated in the story. 

This is also how we 
approached our election inter-
view with Republican Senate 
candidate John James, whom 
Democratic ads were painting 
as an antisemite. That interview 
came under fire from some of 
our readers, as well, who thought 
we were being overly favorable to 
James. In both cases, the actual 
records of the candidates them-
selves were being overlooked. 
In both cases, we talked to the 
candidates and published their 
responses.
During an already incredbly 
stressful election for Jewish 

Americans, my assessment was 
that these lines of attack on can-
didates were irresponsible. We 
can talk about politics without 
trivializing the very serious issues 
of antisemitic and violent rheto-
ric in this country.
So here are some political con-
cerns I don’
t want to lose sight of: 
This week, Berman joined a list 
of Michigan Republicans calling 
for Whitmer’
s impeachment over 
her new restrictions intended to 
curb the spread of COVID-19 
(see story, pg. 18). And at press 
time, James is refusing to con-
cede an election he lost by 84,000 

votes to Sen. Gary Peters. 

A STATEMENT
Back to Berman. Many were 
angry the JN chose to pursue this 
story at all. Nearly 400 people, 
identifying from across the polit-
ical spectrum, signed a statement 
that was organized by members 
of the Berman family and sent to 
the JN’
s advertising department. 
The title was, “
An Appeal For 
Human Decency.
” 
It reads, in part, “Ryan Berman 
would never associate with radi-
cal militia groups or homegrown 
terrorists.
” Though it does not 
mention the JN by name, it also 
states, “Do we think a story, so 
obviously crafted as a misrepre-
sentation/manipulation of reality, 
should ever be run by a reputable 
newspaper or media outlet? The 
answer should be “NO” if our 
community and country have 
any chance of future civility.
”
It concludes, “Do not buy 
into, or participate in, smearing 
neither his good name nor the 
name of anyone, regardless of his 
or her side of the aisle.
” 
Organizers wanted to submit 
this statement as a paid ad in the 
last print JN prior to the election. 
However, they missed the print 
advertising deadline, which is 
at noon Friday the week prior. 
An incomplete version of the 
ad was presented on Monday. 
Unlike daily newspapers, weekly 
publications like the JN require 
more lead time for printing and 
mailing. Afterward, some came 
to the conclusion that the JN had 
“rejected” the ad for political rea-
sons or because it criticized us.
I completely understand the 
frustration here, but this claim 
is false. Anyone is welcome to 
submit any ad they want to the 
JN, within the realm of accept-
able dialogue for our publication. 
Further, no one on the editorial 
staff has any input whatsoever 
into advertising. In this case, the 
editorial staff had no knowledge 
of the ad, and we regret it was 
submitted too late to appear in 

VIEWS

editor’s note
Addressing Our 
Election Reporting

The JN’s editor responds to a 400-person statement.

Andrew 

Lapin

A statement sent to the JN in support of Rep. Ryan Berman. You can see the 

list of signatures on our website: thejewishnews.com.

continued on page 12

