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
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