46 | JANUARY 26 • 2023
international affairs corre-
spondent and since has been
promoted to senior diplomatic
correspondent.
The news station, i24, is an
English-language format, but
Alterman uses his Hebrew
when doing the information
gathering and reporting. In
his role, he has traveled con-
siderably. “I’ve been to the
European elections three times
in France, once to Singapore
for the [President] Trump-
[South Korean President] Kim
Summit, the White House
lawn to the signing of the
Abraham Accords, Russia,
China, Kazakhstan, a bunch of
European countries” and others,
he recounted.
Poris’ entry to the profession
was a little rockier.
“When I made aliyah in 2015,
I started off working at the
Islamic War Museum a couple
of days a week while looking for
something full time,
” he said.
In job hunting, he noted,
“Israel is a really interesting
place. It’s not like in the States,
where you’re asked questions
as a big prerequisite to many,
many jobs, such as: ‘Whom do
you know?’ or ‘Where did you
go to school?’
“In Israel, the startup
mentality is such that they
don’t care about that. They
care whether or not you can do
the job. The other stuff is not
relevant,
” he added.
“So, I was on Facebook,
where I saw a post for a brand-
new news company [ILTV].
At the time, ILTV didn’t even
really exist yet. And the post
was put up by Natasha Raquel
Kirtchuk, the original anchor,
who now works at i24 News.
She said to me that she was
looking for somebody to write,
sit with the video editors and
put things together, edit my
writing a little bit, sit in the
control room, etc.,
” he said.
“
And my skill set just fit,
”
he said. “I had experience as
an art teacher teaching video
editing. Also, speaking Hebrew,
visiting Israel regularly and
having family here helped me
be knowledgeable about politics
in Israel, the functioning of
the government, the cultural
atmosphere and the society as
a whole. So, that all fit because
that was actually a bit of a blind
spot for her at the time,
” he
added.
His teacher training, both
at Wayne State and in the
classroom, likewise, prepared
him with writing and editing.
“I was working about 14
hours a day doing the job,
screen tests and learning
everything that I didn’t know
from staff at Channel 20, where
we rented space. Slowly, we
built up the company. A couple
of months went by, and then we
started on the air,
” he said.
Poris said he made ILTV
his life. “I was the first person
in the office and the last one
to leave,
” he said. “
And as I
remember, I was underpaid at
the time.
”
“They were paying me
around 4,000, 4,500 shekels a
month, which was below the
minimum wage. I was working
crazy hours, so after about three
months, I told my boss, ‘You’re
going to have to bump this
up to eight [8,000 NIS] now,
otherwise I’m out,
’ ” he said.
“
And he [my boss] said to me,
‘Here’s your raise.
’ And I said,
“No, it’s a correction. We’ll talk
about a raise in a couple more
months,
” he recounted.
“Because that’s how it’s done
in Israel,
” he said.
“
After a couple more years,
I was writing and doing some
story packages, but mostly I
was doing production work.
The channel was looking for
somebody to be able to join
Natasha on screen to relieve
some of the stress on her and to
bring another face and voice to
the show. She suggested that I
do a screen test,
” he recalled.
“I had taken Second City
improv classes in Detroit as
a teacher, and I was used to
public speaking and presenting
information in front of people.
I was winner of the screen test,
”
he said. Poris had a new job.
He would solo as anchor
while Kirtchuk was on vacation
or on assignment. When she
left ILTV for good, the station
auditioned several potential
anchors to join Poris. He
ultimately was awarded the lead
anchor position.
OUTSIDE OF WORK
Poris said he still works in art.
“One of my favorite things to
do is to interview people while
I do their portrait.
” He also is
working on launching his own
podcast focusing on promoting
more positive things, he said.
He and Tirzah, an immigrant
from England, were married
in 2019, and she gave birth to
their daughter Elli in October.
They live in Tel Aviv and they
visit Detroit fairly often for
family and friends. They last
were in town in May for friends’
weddings.
While “friends in Detroit and
Thanksgiving remain important”
for Alterman, Petah Tikvah is
where he calls home, along with
his wife, Talya, and two young
children, Tohar and Naveh.
Talya’s work keeps her
closer to home. The sabra,
who grew up in Ariel, “works
in special ed, has a business
doing chocolate workshops
for kids with special needs, as
well as in schools and in other
community settings. She trained
as a chocolatier and is certified,
and has a degree in special ed,
”
he noted.
continued from page 45
ERETZ
Aaron Poris, his
wife Tirzah and
daughter Elli