New York Observer Seeks To Calm Firestorm Over Editor’s Work for Trump Campaign

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
The recent revelation that New York Observer editor Ken Kurson helped Donald Trump with his AIPAC speech has led to a new policy at the paper on covering the presidential election. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner owns The Observer, which has presented a conflict of interest for the staff when writing about him.
The Observer’s Senior politics editor Jillian Jorgenson released a statement Monday about how the paper will move forward on covering the election.
Jorgenson said that the editorial staff at The Observer will no longer give any input on Trump’s campaign. She also says the paper has struggled with figuring out how to cover Trump. Their original plan was not to cover him at all, which then changed to only covering him when he intersected with New York politics. Their new policy is that the editorial staff will cover him the same way they cover every candidate. Read the full statement below.

Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
