Changing with the times

LOU HIRSH
Managing Editor

It speaks to the close-knit nature of the Phoenix Jewish community at one time that Phoenix Jewish News was able to include personal news items such as these in its pages. But like the ever-evolving community itself, Jewish News has changed over the years to effectively serve its readers.

Although it wasn't front-page material, the paper in its early days had several columnists who kept readers abreast of what was happening to the average person - who was visiting relatives, who was vacationing here, who was moving in, who was moving out. This was a community of about 2,000 when Jewish News began publication in 1948, and there was a good chance that most readers either knew the people featured in the news items, or would soon come to know them.

Today the paper is called Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. The Valley now has a Jewish population estimated at between 60,000 and 70,000, living in neighborhoods stretching from Glendale and the Sun Cities in the northwest, to Chandler and Sun Lakes in the southeast.

To accomplish the goal of those early columnists today - essentially, supplying readers with everyday news about themselves - the columns would have to be considerably longer, or there would have to be many more people writing them (that is, assuming there was space and a budget to accommodate such an arrangement). But in one of the fastest growing communities in the nation, you'd still be hard-pressed to keep up with the constant comings and goings of the Jewish population.

A more feasible approach, as seen in today's Jewish News, is to cover the issues, organizations and individuals whose presence makes the biggest impact on the greatest number of readers. And as most newspapers - big and small - have found, you still can't please everybody all the time.

This is not to say that "small town" news ever was considered the most important by Jewish News editors or readers. Front-page stories in the earliest editions dealt with upcoming community events that would be of interest to many readers, as well as honors bestowed on local residents for distinguished service to the community - which today remain a regular part of the paper's coverage.

The inception of Jewish News in 1948 coincided with the founding of the state of Israel. The paper gave readers news of what was happening in Israel (via wire dispatches from Jewish Telegraphic Agency) during the precarious early days. Concerns about Israel's future in those years was reflected locally by coverage of fund-raising campaigns. The top, front-page story of Jewish News frequently was an update of local fund-raising efforts for the United Jewish Welfare Fund (known today as the United Jewish Appeal Campaign. Large headlines trumpeted record-setting amounts being pledged in support of Israel; while smaller sub-headlines cautioned that this was still no time to let up - Israel needed Phoenix's help as much as ever.

A shift in priorities
For much of the paper's first half-decade - from the late 1940s and into the early 1970s, the paper was able to maintain that balance of hometown news, combined with information and opinion that seemed to encourage and reflect united, unquestioned local support for Israel. But beginning with the 1960s, as the Jewish News' coverage of local and national issues shows, residents were starting to face other important matters. Events such as civil-rights marches and war protests were taking center stage, and Jewish News chronicled local residents' involvement in the issues of that turbulent decade. Also, although Israel remained an important part of local Jewish consciousness, attention was increasingly shifting to the needs of the local community, where growth was accelerating.

On top of maintaining a new community center, residents were looking after their individual worship needs. New synagogues were forming, and established ones were relocating or expanding, all of which increasingly drew finances and support from the "center" of the community - the definition of which was in a steady state of flux.

As communities changed and priorities shifted, Jewish newspapers such as this one gradually incorporated a more big-picture approach to the news. Since the 1970s especially, this has been seen in an emphasis on stories and issues that ring true and weigh on the minds of a wide Jewish audience - subjects such as intermarriage, politics, medicine, family matters, romance, and basic tenets and teachings of Judaism. Studies show that the Jewish newspaper audience is well-read, so Jewish papers, usually published weekly, offer insights with a Jewish twist, as supplements to readers' daily news sources - which are usually short on things specifically Jewish or Israel-related.

The big-picture approach does not mean that "small" news isn't covered. But it does mean presenting all angles of stories, and it isn't always pretty or positive. And although we try to offer perspective and suggestions for bringing about desired changes, the overall presentation doesn't always represent a community consensus. (It most especially does not hew to the perspective of any one organization, since Jewish News has been independently owned almost since its inception. This is not the case with all of the nation's Jewish newspapers, many of which are owned or subsidized by local Jewish federations.)

The newspaper attempts to show the community everything - warts and all, the low points along with the highlights - and let readers make their own judgments as to how they feel about their community and its challenges. As the community has grown up and faced modern-day local and societal problems, Jewish News also has provided a forum for differing viewpoints, and has attempted to put this changing world in perspective through its own editorials and commentaries.

Articles, editorials and letters to the editor address subjects such as affirmative action, gun control, prayer in schools, abortion, euthanasia and the use - and misuse - of taxpayer money. Along with the positive news of honors, good deeds and uplifting personality profiles, there also are reports on the inevitable bad news - anti-Semitic vandalism directed at synagogues and individuals, misdeeds or misuse of funds by temple staff members, store owners doing things that are (literally) not kosher.

And alas, no longer is there a unified local view on Israel, something that was taken for granted in 1948. Strife within the Jewish state itself is now reflected in Valley residents' views of Israel, and differences of opinion frequently find their way into Jewish News.

Just a few months ago, the Valley's Orthodox and non-Orthodox rabbis were locked in a battle of resolutions, which was apparently sparked by the presence of Chabad rabbis in non-Orthodox synagogues, giving holiday food-preparation demonstrations. In the course of a long public debate - which generated several letters to the paper - the non-Orthodox rabbis said their irritation was caused in part by the failure of the Orthodox establishment in Israel to give proper recognition and respect to non-Orthodox views.

While some may not like seeing this sort of battle waged in their community paper, conflict is a fact of life, and must be included in a realistic presentation of Jewish life here.

At times, by consulting with local experts and observers, we are able to offer some context, and a glimpse of what an event or dispute means to the future of the community. At other times - true to form for a local paper that reflects its readership - we can be just as perplexed as anyone about where things are heading next. Chronicling the ride, including the bumps and roadblocks, is what it's all about.