Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at thejewishnews.com

70 | AUGUST 15 • 2024 J
N

The Evolving JN
I 

learned I had two salient 
mandates when I began to write 
for the JN. First, my work must 
meet high standards for accuracy 
and fairness. Indeed, 
this has been the 
raison d’etre since the 
first issue of the JN 
was published in 1942 
when Philip Slomovitz 
was its editor. 
The second 
concerns today’s 
issue. The JN has 
always strived to deliver critical 
information about Detroit’s Jewish 
community, as well as American 
and international affairs.
Today, you will see our latest 
renovated JN (see story on 
page 4).We are going back to a 
newsprint publication. If history 
tells us anything, however, this will 
not be the last change in the way 
we deliver the print news in the 
coming years.
The JN is also delivering more 

and more appealing local, national 
and international content for 
our growing digital audience. 
More than 200,000 patrons visit 
thejewishnews.com every month.
When JN began publishing on 
March 27, 1942, it was a typical 
tabloid-sized newspaper of the era. 
It was published using standard 
newsprint with untrimmed 
edges, loose pages and, apart 
from headlines, a rather small 
font size. The pages were densely 
packed with multiple stories, 
announcements and other items. 
This format lasted for 34 years, 
until Jan. 31, 1987. There was only 
one major visual change during this 
period: the introduction of blue on 
the front page in 1984, sometimes 
with a splash of red.
The next step in the JN’s 
evolution occurred after former 
publisher Arthur Horwitz arrived 
in Detroit in 1986. Soon after, 
Horwitz introduced a major 
revamp of the JN. Beginning with 

the Feb. 6, 1987, edition, the JN 
became a stitched (stapled rather 
than loose), trimmed publication 
with newsprint wrapped in a 
bright-white offset paper stock. 
Moreover, for the first time, 
the cover and other parts of the 
publication had full-color photos 
and advertisements. This was a 
distinctly new look for the JN that 
was largely in place until 1997. 
But the JN never rests on its 
laurels. With the Rosh Hashanah 
issue of Sept. 22, 1995, for the first 
time, the JN wrapped its newsprint 
pages with a glossy cover/coated 
paper stock. On Sept. 12, 1997, the 
JN introduced a totally revamped 
design utilizing the services of the 
iconic designers from the Pushpin 
Group, the design firm that created 
the iconic ‘‘I Love NY” logo that 
used a heart for the word love.
BTW — I’m writing as the 
archivist for the William Davidson 
Digital Archive of Detroit Jewish 
History, which has preserved every 

page of the Detroit Jewish Chronicle 
and JN. One can see every step of 
their visual and content evolution 
in the Archive. 
In 2018, President Donald 
Trump imposed a 31% tariff on 
Canadian newsprint, the major 
supplier to the U.S. market. This 
cost was passed along to the JN, 
contributing to another stage of its 
evolution. On Sept. 12, 2019, the 
Jewish News was published on all 
glossy/coated paper stock, with full 
color throughout, and more of a 
standard magazine size. 
Today, the JN again changes 
paper and format for its print 
version. The physical version will 
be a bit different, but our long-
standing tradition of delivering the 
news for and about Detroit’s Jewish 
community will never change, 
whether print or digital. We publish 
the JN for you and only you. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN 

archives, available at thejewishnews.com. 

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

JEWISH NEWS

THE DETROIT

Strength

in Numbers

Birthright Israel — 
the bridge between 
Israel and the diaspora 
— builds the next 
generation of Zionists.

See page 8

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