Acquisition Kicks Off Local Journalism Strategy for North America’s Largest Jewish Publisher
New York, NY, January 7, 2021 — 70 Faces Media, the largest publisher of Jewish news, information and lifestyle content in North America, announced today that it has acquired the New York Jewish Week brand and its signature programs. The acquisition pairs two preeminent brands in Jewish journalism — the New York Jewish Week, America’s venerable local Jewish newspaper, and 70 Faces Media’s flagship news brand, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), the leading syndicated source of national and international Jewish news.
As the most diverse publisher of Jewish content in North America, 70 Faces Media reaches more than 3 million unique monthly visitors through its websites and millions more through its international syndication network. The company will now leverage its infrastructure to create a sustainable online model for local community journalism around the country.
The Jewish Week will remain a dedicated digital brand with its own unique focus on Jewish New York, its people and its institutions, while benefiting from 70 Faces Media’s experience and resources as North America’s largest and most diverse Jewish media organization.
“Over the past six years, 70 Faces Media has dramatically scaled its readership, revenues, and impact on users through our diverse stable of national brands. Now we want to use our resources and expertise to create a vibrant digital future for local Jewish journalism in communities across the country,” said Ami Eden, CEO & Executive Editor of 70 Faces Media. “We look forward to building on the esteemed history of the New York Jewish Week and developing a lasting and compelling digital identity that reaches new audiences and strengthens the lives of all Jewish New Yorkers.”
The acquisition of the New York Jewish Week is part of the unified news strategy being developed by Philissa Cramer, JTA’s editor in chief, to better serve local and national readers across the country, as well as JTA’s 60+ syndication partners. Cramer came to JTA in January 2020 after co-founding and working for 11 years at Chalkbeat, an independent journalism nonprofit covering American education with bureaus in eight locations. “We are creating a news model that will support on-the-ground journalism at a time of crisis for local news,” Cramer said. “Jewish news audiences want to know and understand what’s happening in their local communities, and how that fits into the bigger picture.”
70 Faces Media has more than tripled its audience and increased its revenues by 70% since early 2014, when it began implementing a strategic vision for sustainable growth focused on unifying its Jewish news, education and culture brands. Executing that vision has enabled the company to attract and maximize synergistic philanthropic investments in editorial expansion, audience development, business development, technology and fundraising.
Along with the 103-year-old JTA news agency, 70 Faces Media also operates the leading Jewish information website My Jewish Learning; popular parenting site Kveller; The Nosher, a Jewish food site, and Alma, a site focused on culture and identity for Gen Zers and Millennials.
Commenting on the acquisition, Brian Sterling, president of 70 Faces Media’s board of directors, said, “I want to thank the New York Jewish Week’s board of directors for entrusting us with this historic brand. And I also want to thank our philanthropic partners who are making it possible for us to realize a vision for the New York Jewish Week’s digital future.”
70 Faces Media’s strategic plans for the New York Jewish Week brand are being supported by UJA-Federation of New York, Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, and three additional foundations (the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Maimonides Fund and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies) through their participation in the Jewish Community Relief and Impact Fund which was established to support Jewish communal institutions in the wake of Covid-19.
The New York Jewish Week was founded in the late 1970s, and over the decades grew to include three regional editions serving New York City, Westchester County and Long Island. The print newspaper reached more than 55,000 households each week, and the online edition receives hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors. Over the years the Jewish Week has won dozens of Simon Rockower awards for journalistic excellence from the American Jewish Press Association; several New York Press Association Awards, and the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism from the Journalism Center on Children & Families, including for its aggressive coverage of child abuse and sexual harassment at various nonprofit institutions, communal responses to mental health disorders and funding of anti-Israel activists on college campuses.
Due to long-term economic challenges accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in recent months the New York Jewish Week had been forced to cease print operations and lay off the bulk of its staff. Its current publications include a Daily Update email newsletter and a printable, downloadable digest of the week’s top news.
The New York Jewish Week also runs several signature programs that are included in the acquisition:
• Write On For Israel, a two-year seminar program that trains high school juniors and seniors to use writing as a tool to explore issues related to Israel and Jewish life on campus.
• Fresh Ink For Teens, a publication and website by and for young Jewish journalists.
• The Conversation, an annual retreat for top and emerging thought-leaders in Jewish life.
• Public Forums, an annual series in partnership with UJA-Federation of New York featuring guest speakers at the top of their fields, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who made her final public appearance before her death, and the cast of the Israeli television show “Shtisel,” whose three New York-area appearances in June 2019 attracted 7,000 people.
“This acquisition provides an opportunity to create a new forward-looking digital vision for the Jewish Week that will benefit our community for years to come while staying true to our editorial values and mission,” said Kai Falkenberg, president of the New York Jewish Week’s board of directors.
Andrew Silow-Carroll, editor in chief of the New York Jewish Week, will continue in the same role and will also serve as senior editor at JTA. Silow-Carroll was JTA’s editor in chief prior to joining the New York Jewish Week in 2019. Thea Wieseltier, who oversaw the New York Jewish Week’s signature programs, will join 70 Faces Media as the director of strategic projects and public programs, a newly created position.
“I was editor in chief of JTA before coming to The Jewish Week, and quickly saw the potential synergies between the two brands. The future of journalism depends on the thorough, essential local reporting and presence the New York Jewish Week is known for, and the forward-thinking digital experience and innovation of organizations like 70 Faces Media, JTA and their sister properties,” said Silow-Carroll.
Wieseltier said: “The Jewish Week could not have found a more congenial and exciting home than 70 Faces Media — we share the same purpose of a rich and truthful and stimulating Jewish journalism.”
70 Faces Media was created out of a groundbreaking merger between JTA and My Jewish Learning, which was founded in 2002 by the beverage magnate and philanthropist Edgar Bronfman Sr. The organizations integrated their operations in early 2014 and formally merged on January 1, 2015. The Nosher and Kveller were created by My Jewish Learning before the merger. Alma, 70 Faces Media’s newest brand, launched in 2017.
Additional reactions to 70 Faces Media’s acquisition of the New York Jewish Week brand and signature programs:
Eric S. Goldstein, CEO, UJA-Federation of New York: “UJA-Federation has long-supported the need for independent, high-quality Jewish media and its vital role in informing, engaging, and strengthening our large and diverse community. The plan to create a digital future for the Jewish Week brand — that leverages 70 Faces Media’s digital prowess and its other compelling brands — represents an important and exciting opportunity to stabilize and expand the range of news, information, ideas and culture for the New York Jewish Community in the years ahead.”
Jonathan Sarna, University Professor and the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History and Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University, and 70 Faces Media board member: “The New York Jewish community and the world of Jewish journalism will celebrate the news that 70 Faces Media is acquiring the Jewish Week in order to transform Jewish journalism in the New York metropolitan area and potentially across the country. This acquisition provides a model of best practices during these challenging times, and will be closely watched by Jewish media outlets across the world.”
Abigail Pogrebin, journalist/author: “The Jewish Week has been a crucial chronicler of the Jewish story, a brave convener of honest interdenominational dialogue, and a canny creator of timely, news-making events. I can’t wait to watch its next chapter.”
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Contact for 70 Faces Media:
Alissa Neil
[email protected]
(917) 328-4889
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