"About That Email..." - JTA Posts Apology for Email Language

The JTA posted a response today, calling Friday's solicitation letter "ill-advised," which it certainly was, and creating more of a context for the "ask" than recipients of the letter were originally given (this from Dan Sieradski's post on the subject):

I will therefore be the first to admit that Friday's fundraising letter was ill-advised and regrettable. The characterization of bloggers and Twitterers as "non-professional" and unreliable was not only counterproductive but arguably false. Worse yet, by seemingly attacking the blogosphere and Twittersphere, JTA has turned itself into a straw man in the battle between old and new media.

Over the weekend, there's been a lot of angry responses from bloggers and other outraged users of new media. And the JTA realized almost immediately that the email was a mistake. So now that we've had the outrage and the apology, how can we all learn from this experience and move on? What's the lesson, for JTA, which contributes Jewish journalism's mainframe, and for the "bloggers, Twitterers and unprofessionals" whose work complements "just the news" with personal opinion, insight, irreverence, reflections, humor etc?

The lesson for JTA is clearly one of using language effectively. If they had said "we need unbiased journalists to provide accurate news stories," that's one thing. But the framing of "Jewish storytelling" as an institution under attack by a group of people who are actually contributing - albeit in what would academically be considered an "unjournalistic" manner - to the contemporary Jewish narrative was what fueled the responses of Jewish bloggers. While bloggers and Twitterers might not consider themselves journalists, why does it help to identify them as a threat to the sanctity of Jewish storytelling?

I think we all agree it doesn't. And it's clear - with staff members blogging, making room for a Jewish blog aggregator on their site, as well as incorporating the new "Kavod" - Digg-style accolade system for online articles of note, and routinely quoting bloggers when the appropriate circumstances arise - that JTA as an entity never intended to alienate the Jblogging nation.

How can we "get right" with each other now? To an extent, it's like any relationship worth saving: we've got to communicate better, we've got to develop a more respectful interaction with each other. JTA has apologized and has recommitted to valuing the contributions of bloggers, and even in the wake of this slight, bloggers will continue to use JTA as a primary source to launch our own posts of perspective and opinion. The debate over this particular email will fade, if not entirely away, then into the realm of things that happened, but didn't derail the progress of human civilization.

But moreover, I think there's definitely a "new media/old media" conflict here. I'm feeling an analogy to the "Jewish innovation/Jewish establishment" conversation, and would advise the same solution, at least in the short-term. We all know technology is making an impact on every industry, including journalism. Some aspects of journalism are becoming easier, and others are still evolving and are confusing the people who have been doing this the longest. During this highly evolutionary period, the issue is often framed within fear - to state it strongly, the established structures fear obsolescence at the hands of the young whippersnappers who don't have the respect for history and context; and the innovators fear the dilution of their radical nowness at the hands of dinosaur institutions. Such dichotomizing creates unnecessary demonization of the other instead of crafting a future of innovation combined with historical/institutional context. What is needed is conversation, collaboration, and mutual support, however that is defined.

JTA does important work, and I believe that. So much so that I'm including their "support" link here, as I did in the previous post. And so much so that I just made a small donation (in honor of my mother, a former editor of the NJ Jewish Standard, which has recently also incorporated some fresh voices via blogs) as a token of said support. (Of course, this means that the very scare tactic that I railed against also, in some way, got me to make a donation. Which has me thinking about who to demonize in order to motivate donations to my cobweb-topped tip jar. The irony is not lost on me.)

I want to close with someone else's words, which I hope you will find as on-target as I did in terms of looking beyond this incident, into the future:

The whole world of media, fundraising and communicating has been shattered, and all of us who care have to work together to gather the light back together. Wishing shalom bayit [peace in the home] to all in the house of Jewish media. (Lyn Payne, Heritage Florida Jewish News - Orlando)

This week has us looking toward the incidents that unite us as a nation - understanding lessons of enslavement and liberation, knowing our history and adding our personal reflections, telling the same old story in a modern way that links our present to our past, and expresses a hope for unity in the future. My wish for this Passover is basically my regular blogger's prayer: let us be strong enough to hear our individual voices amidst a cacophony, may we be open enough to hear the voices that differ from our own, and may we welcome the influence of family and history in the shaping of our selves.

A meaningful Passover to all.

Comments

[maggie]

Hey there! I don't know anything about the issues you mention in your post, just wanted to drop and say hi. I stumbled on your blog and like your style :)

[Stefan]

JTA's pitch was chutzpadik not only because of its blanket smear of bloggers (some of whom it would be better not to rely on) but because - speaking both as a journalist, a PR for a Jewish organisation and as an Orthodox Jew - JTA's delivery on accuracy, a striving towards objectivity and a professional capacity for reasonable analysis is lacking far too often. If the future of Jewish storytelling depended on JTA then the only benefit would be that I would be davening with more kavana.