How is American-Jewish media adapting to the internal transformations within communities?

Legacy media is undergoing profound and rapid changes, leaving it unrecognizable to us of a certain age. Much of Jewish media is being dragged along for the ride with budget cuts and a shrinking number of eyes, at least in the places everyone was used to looking at. How is American Jewish media adapting not only to the shifts in the broader world, but the internal transformations in the Jewish communities of the US? We'll speak with the president of the American Jewish Press Association, Ami Eden, on this week's American View. Amy Eden, thank you so much for joining us here. Not only the president of the American Jewish Press Association, but the CEO and executive editor of 70 Faces Media, the publisher of some familiar brands like Jewish Telegraphic Agency and New York Jewish Week. We really appreciate you taking the time to be with us here. And so much to talk about, so many changes in American Jewish media at such a uh precarious time. and g give us kind of the state of play right now of American Jewish media and where it lies. >> Yeah, I I would not to get off on an argumentative note, but I would push back on precarious depending there's kind of like a tale of two cities going on. Um on the national level, we are in a I'd say a very prolonged renaissance. Like if you look back from 15 years ago, you know, when you look at things that are that exist now that didn't exist before, Tablet magazine, Times of Israel, you know, a bunch of the properties on 70 Faces Media, hey, Alma Feller, um, and you know, from the, you know, on the left you have Jewish Currents is has a revival of the Forwards built out. It's digital operation. You know, there's tons of examples of media that is either old like C decades or century old like JTA, Moment Magazine, other ones like that that are revamping and renewing or new players on the scene that are really um doing exciting and interesting things across the political and religious spectrum. Um and now that's going great. And then alongside that you have, you know, the creator class of, you know, influencers, podcasters, Substack writers. there is no shortage of Jewish focused um voices in that in that environment. I think the place where there's a lot of uh a lot of pain points and a lot of challenges there's that for Jewish media at the local level. Um and we can get into why that is, but there's it's a big I think there's a big gap in the health and the vibrancy of the national and international Jewish media versus what's happening on the local scene. No, I didn't mean the precariousness of American media. I meant the American Jewish community. It feels so uh tense uh after October 7th. And you know, to to that effect, you know, October 7th changed everything for the American Jewish community. I'm sure the American Jewish media was no exception. I mean, do do you feel added pressure to cover particular issues this way or that? I mean, how does the post October 7th world play into uh coverage coming from American Jewish media? >> Yeah, I think in the really the years, but even the decades leading up to October 7th, I think the Jewish media in a lot of different ways had shifted. And certainly this is true at 70 Faces Media. Um, I think we saw our role as not simply delivering the news and information, but really thinking about helping helping people find ways to connect to their Jewish identity in in ways that maybe went beyond just the straight news. And I think what really changed after October 7th is it's not only that people be became hungrier for news. But the reason they became hungrier is because what was happening in the news was impacting their Jewish identity. If if you follow what I'm saying, it's not it's not like, oh, they were caring more about their Jewish identity and now they care about the news. it's that the things that were the things that kind of is putting their Jewish identity under threat or under stress is related to to the the fundamental stories in the news. And so I think that's really um you know really led I'd say like an increased focus and how and and and the energy and resources being put into you know hard news coverage opinion co opinions around the news um and and and that that's the real that's the big shift I think post October 7th and obviously it it's in doing the news has been super challenging in terms of having a lot of assumptions in both the wider community and in the media landscape and within the Jewish community that are being challenged and stretched, you know, where uh and a lot of a lot of divisions a lot and not just divisions, but a lot of a lot of different senses of reality and, you know, needing to navigate that is is really hard, especially if you're a media outlet like I think a lot of Jewish media outlets are that are still trying to serve the community in a wider sense, but we and we can certainly talk about that. >> Yeah, of course, I mean, American Jewish media is not a monolith. You know, you have the big national papers. You have papers that geared towards specific communities. You have the smaller regional p. You know, I I grew up in northeast Philly. I got the Jewish exponent delivered to the doorstep every week. Now you you you you log on and now you got to enter your information as of a few weeks ago. I mean, the whole the the way the whole approach has changed. Is it kind of relative to the broader media landscape the changes or are there things specific to American Jewish media that you've had to kind of adapt to? >> No, I I think a lot of the same pressures um are are underway and I I'll just mention, you know, I I am from Philadelphia as well and my first job was the wire editor at the Jewish Exponent. And you know at the time you know the biggest issues might have been uh you know 96 to 120 pages before Roshashana and Pesak and you know in the in the war in the summer months when you know the paper was small it might have been 48 pages right and now like a 48 page paper would you know be fantastic so I think that and that's and I think the trends I think there's a a trends that are parallel in in that regular media and and the Jewish media, which is local media across the board, is under immense pressures. And I think there's a lot of thriving national media outlets, new media outlets, old media outlets that have totally reinvented themselves like the New York Times, whatever you think about it politically, where it is as an econ economic model in terms of having a digital model to where it was 15, 20 years ago is like a total turnaround. And I think you're seeing that there's a tons of stories like that on the national level. And obviously the individual creators in the in the national media are also, you know, many of them are thriving. But if you go to the local level, it's a lot of the same kind and and the challenges are the same. And it really comes down some of the factors are, you know, you had a an economic model that was built around certain types of advertising that have totally disappeared. People now can go to all sorts of niche. Um, you know, something like the athletic, which is giving you your local sport. It's a national outlet that's giving you your local sports. Now, you don't need the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News to give you your local sports. Um, and I I I think for the Jewish local Jewish media, it's a similar thing on the economic front and where they're behind the eightball. They don't have as much access to capital. In our in our case, that's philanthropic, you know, foundations, you know, to basically help them transform um digitally and really invest in the business in new ways to to to generate media and and and upgrade and evolve their their publications. And part of the problem is they don't have part of the reason people are willing to make a bet on us doing that on the national level is because we have the potential to reach millions. Right? If you're a Jewish a local Jewish paper serving a community of 40,000 Jews max, you're never going to be able it's going to be very difficult to justify, you know, a return on investment. forget finan I don't just mean dollars but I mean the number of people you know that you're going to serve and that you're going to impact is just by definition going to be smaller. You have a kind of capped audience where those of us on the national level we're like reaching we have the right you know again we can be reaching millions of Jews. We can be influencing national conversation that impacts Jews. It's just much harder for local media to make that case. But I I want to add, but the reality is like when you look at what's happening in the world and what's happening in the news, these local outlets both in the general media and the Jewish media are really critical. Like when you think about the collapse of community, the class collapse of trust, of dialogue, like it it would be so important to have local media thriving and playing a role. And so that's, you know, sometimes you want to say, okay, the the, you know, the the time for something has passed and time for the new, but I I I don't feel that way. I I I really think um the best thing for the Jewish community is to have a thriving national media, in our case, let's say JTA, which is supplying national and international reporting to local papers. But we need those local papers to matter, right? We need them to be able to have the resource to serve their communities to play a role they've always done. And I'll just add one more thing about the local which um you know there's a there's a big um local journalism movement across the country to try to get you know not I'm not talking in the Jewish community outside the Jewish community to get foundations to help prop up and rejuvenate local media. And when when you go to conferences or places where these people are gathering, it becomes very quickly it becomes clear that a lot of that is really become sort of a left-wing media. It's really a left, not always exclusively, but it's it's it's a left-wing liberal um perspective. I think a lot of local Jewish papers are still really taking seriously the idea that they are like a town square for the entire Jewish community. I think it's something really noble. And I also think like that the the people who do read those Jewish local Jewish papers, there's still a strong trust, the strong connection that they have. It's like how but how do you scale it? How do you bring it to the next generation when you're strapped for resources etc. >> So what are those discussions like? I mean you know you have the annual uh American Jewish uh press association summit. There are other conferences within media. I I mean are you guys and I say you guys I mean we're a part of this uh at I24. Are you guys pulling for each other? Are you working as a collective to try to to to solve these problems? Is it kind of every man for himself and whoever can pick up the breadcrumbs at the end we'll do I mean where does where where where's the community sense in in this challenge? Yeah, I and look we h I and semi faces media play a very specific role. So we are a um one of the roles of JTA it's historic role was to be a a wire service for international Jewish papers and local Jewish media. So, it's in our DNA to be helping, you know, all of our partner papers and again, we have national clients, international clients, and still several dozen locals and we are really, you know, real partners to them. Um, and don't, you know, we see their success as our success. Um, and I'll tell you like, and obviously there's another, you know, JNS is a is a different wire service. They have their own orientation. They're servicing a lot of the same clients. tonight. I'm not going to say there's no rivalry there, but like I'm the president of the American Jewish Press Association. Karen Smilk, an editor, JNS is the vice president. And ultimately, I think like if you came to that conference, I think what you basically see is like we we really all care about the Jewish community. And that doesn't always, you know, that doesn't mean we have the same ideas about what's good for the Jewish community, but I think we're rooting for I mean, I do think we root for each other. I think we want all, you know, all the different sectors to succeed. And again, I'm not saying there's no, you know, that there's no rivalries, there's no tensions sometimes or, you know, that that there's not right-wing media and leftwing media that has, you know, might view each other, you know, negatively. But I think relatively speaking, there is still a pretty good um cohesive camaraderie um that we're that we're all bringing. It sounds like the conference of presidents essentially. It's this umbrella organization and we may have our different viewpoints and come from every end of the spectrum but kind of working as the uh the collective for the uh the greater good so to speak. Is is that an accurate characterization? >> I mean it's been a while since I covered the conference of presidents. So um you know I'm sure under William Darif who has like a nice nice soft touch they're all getting along great. But like in my days covering it, there were a lot a lot of feuds that I would say were much sharper than like within the Jewish media bubble. Like I think it's a good I think we're in a you know I think there's a lot of um again I think there's a lot of shared concern, a lot of shared commitment, a big willingness to sh to share best practices, to share experiments. But again, there's not that's not everybody. There obviously are players who are um you know who are kind of doing their own thing. Um, so it's not that's not that we're all at the table together. Um, but I think there's a there's a there's a group I think of the the local papers and a few of the national certainly the wire services and a few others that are in, you know, in are in conversation with each other a lot. >> Yeah, we cover the politics. I mean, that's our our bread and butter in terms of uh the USIsrael relationship. And so many times we we being me talk about the the political football that Israel often becomes that the Jewish community often becomes um within the the the broader political picture. But it oftentimes, I mean, at least internally here, feels like a paradox because we talk about it so much. Everything we do is seen through the prism of the Jewish community or the USIsrael relationship that it becomes tough to to tell everybody else, hey, don't don't use us as a political football here when, you know, sometimes we're we're we're doing that just out of reflex, just out of the way we see the world. the broader American Jewish press, do do you get the sense that there's an awareness that yes, we we we need to cover this through the Jewish eye, but at the same time, we might be g giving I don't know the wrong impression, for lack of a better word, that everybody should see things through the Jewish eye as well rather than than through other means. I look I think we have we have a we have a job to do and I think I think the reality is that most of us are whatever our wherever we are in the political or religious landscape. I think most of the time our focus is on how do we serve our audiences in the ways that they need us to serve them. And I don't think we're spending a ton of time, you know, and maybe for better or for worse. Like I don't think we're spending a ton of time thinking, oh, um, how are we like if we're if we're serving our community in this way, the way they needed it served, it's going to have a spillover effect over here. I I don't think I don't I don't think that's really what drives most of the Jewish media. I think we're thinking about who our audiences are, what matters to them, what they need. and and and I'll say I think I think there is a growing growing group of American Jews who don't um they don't they increasingly don't trust the mainstream media whereas that used to be a I would say like a pretty right-wing you know um center of attention you know focus I think that there's a much wider spectrum of people who are not comfortable or or distrusting of the mainstream media But a lot of those same people still want real journalism about the Jewish community, about Israel, you know, that's about international and Jewish communities that's not afraid to do real journalism, but they want to know that that journalism is coming from outlets that share their values, that share some baseline assumptions that, you know, that they feel like when they are reading a tough article, it's not because um you know it's it's not that that the motive isn't negative you know that it's not you know that and I think that I think that matters to more and more people than maybe it would have you know pre-occtober 7th >> we kind of talk about the the dwindling uh eyes the dwindling subscribers and having to to find new methods and new roads within the the American Jewish press where are you finding those new those new eyes those new ears those new subscribers is Is there a a a base for that? >> I think one of the benefits we have at 70 Faces Media, one of our real strengths is that we operate as a house of brands. So, we have multiple publications and when you do that, you can lean in to different audiences with different assumption. You know, I I talked about how shared assumptions, but with in the Jewish community even, you know, there's still a lot of different ages, different sensibilities, different knowledge levels. So we can have, you know, we can have JTA that it might be serving a more a traditional, not religiously traditional, but a traditional audience maybe skewing a little older um but you know that has a kind of conventional way of seeing Jewish identity and seeing the Jewish community and understanding Israel. And then we can have a brand like hey Alma which was designed for people in uh you know in their 20s and 30s who are coming from a very different set different set of baseline assumptions about what Jewish identity means what questions they have what they're wrestling with and so it allows us to do some different things. >> Do the money folks still find the value there? Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do the ones that are cutting the checks whether it comes from the federations whether it comes from from private entities I'm not just talking about your own brands I'm talking about the the greater American Jewish media landscape are they still finding the value is there or are you having to look for for dollars >> I mean we have we we if we had two foundations 10 years ago funding us at over you know in the six figures now we have eight Right. I I think we and and at higher levels than before and I think you could go to several other outlets that are having success in raising money on a high on a high on a high level. And um and look, we've also put in we've put in the efforts into an to build an advertising business over the last 10 years that has grown grown sixfold um since we put started putting attention to it. And I mentioned that. So that's a lot of a lot of that revenue is about the Jewish not for-profit sector seeing value in reaching our audiences. So absolutely and and then you have users who are, you know, giving us money directly that's growing. But I back to the philanthropists, I definitely think um there's many there's many Jewish national Jewish media outlets that are doing that are doing very well in terms of building, you know, a larger philanthropic base. Do the changes within the American Jewish community and I mean we can talk about the thousand of them but specifically the the more transformative ones. Do they lend themselves to a stronger American Jewish media or do they they put up obstacles to to to that growth? >> Which which thing? I missed the thing you said >> when we're talking about the transformative things going on within the American Jewish community. uh whether it be the uh the the the rise in the the percentage of uh orthodox versus secular whe it be any number of factors that we cover on a a regular >> obviously there's there's certain challenges when you but but ultimately it's exciting and thrilling to have different segments of the community that are evolving and and and you know evolving and changing and going in new exciting things or facing challenges it And it it really is an opport from a media perspective. It's super exciting and important because it makes us important, right? That even more so media is going to be a place that can help hold together. You know, we talk in our mission statement about being the digital connective tissue of the Jewish community. And that's not just a conceit, right? Media outlets are a place that have scale and and flexibility to to reach a lot of different types of people, help different communities learn about each other, better understand each other, even while not trying to shy away from the difference and the disagreements. So like the more eclectic the community becomes from a media perspective. Yes, there's some micro challenges that presents. But ultimately that's a that's a massive exciting role for us to to be able to play in terms of translating, connecting, bringing different types of people together. It's it's it's very exciting. >> We've got about two minutes left here. I want to ask you what what comes next here? What is the next big jump that you're looking at in terms of the American Jewish media? The next big uh uh challenge uh the next the next big thing essentially because you always have to be planning. You always have to have your eye on you know 10 steps ahead. What is the if there's a consensus or even a majority opinion that you've heard what what's the next big thing? I think you I think on the national level what all of us are thinking about or should be thinking about is um is there a way to marry the benefits of having a trusted brand which has sort of always been the bread and butter of the business, right? That you want to have a a a kind of a a media brand that people know, they trust, they have affinity with and then you have this revolution of independent creators. And you see this happening where the independ the wider spectrum where the independent creators are kind of becoming mainstream media outlets and the mainstream media outlets are trying to bring in the creators. How do we do that in the Jewish media? Right? How do we leverage um how do we leverage the power and the respect and the gravitas and the sustainability of our our established brands or even the newer media brands? How do we marry them to creators so that both of those groups are helping each other? And I think on the national versus local, I think, and we're trying to put a lot of time into this, is how can we leverage more of our resources and our successes to help find ways to elevate local journalism and make it more sustainable. So like our historically for over 100 years, we've been sending out great national and international reporting to our local partners. What are the models? what are the mechanisms through which all of our these national outlets that are succeeding how can we you know are there ways that we can help and I don't know if that's becoming you know joining together or more enhanced services or marrying better resources and training to these local papers I think we have I think that's something that's we haven't figured out and we need to figure out but those are the those are kind of two structural things um that I'm looking at and then also um we all have to keep up technology-wise leveraging data, AI, and you know, all these tools that are coming. And that's that's a big challenge even for the biggest Jewish media outlets from a resource perspective. That's a ch like that's a super challenge. We're not tech companies, right? The New York Times can become a game. You know, people joke now it's a game company that happens to do news. We can't we don't have the resource or the ability to do that. So, we're like how but how do we keep up and leverage technological innovation um to serve our readers? Like that that's the other big thing. >> Fascinating times. Thank you so much for taking the time with us, Ammy Eden, the president of the American Jewish Press Association and the CEO and executive editor of 70 Faces Media. We really do appreciate it, Ammy. >> Thank you, Mike. Glad to be here. >> And we will talk to you again next week here on American View.