Britain’s leading Jewish newspapers shutter due to coronavirus slump
The Jewish Chronicle Image by The Jewish Chronicle
(JTA) — Both of Britain’s leading national-circulation Jewish newspapers, The Jewish Chronicle and The Jewish News, are being liquidated.
The staff of both papers will be laid off because their parent company, the Kessler Foundation charity, has run out of money due to the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, The Guardian reported Wednesday.
The Jewish Chronicle was established in 1841 and is Britain’s oldest-running Jewish newspaper. It is listed on LinkedIn as having about 50 employees. The Jewish News has six people listed as its journalists.
“With great sadness, the Board of the Jewish Chronicle has taken the decision to seek a creditors voluntary liquidation of Jewish Chronicle Newspapers Ltd,” the newspaper announced Wednesday on its website.
The Kessler Foundation is “actively working to secure a future for the Jewish Chronicle after the liquidation,” its statement said.
Despite “the heroic efforts of the editorial and production team at the newspaper, it has become clear that the Jewish Chronicle will not be able to survive the impact of the current coronavirus epidemic in its current form.”
In February, the Jewish Chronicle and the Jewish News agreed to merge to secure the financial future of Jewish media in the United Kingdom.
The announcement came on the eve of Passover, a holiday for which employees of many Jewish businesses receive gifts.
The Jewish media have been struggling for years in the United Kingdom and beyond, but the coronavirus crisis caused a collapse in print sales and advertising revenue, the Guardian wrote.
The post Britain’s leading Jewish newspapers to shutter due to coronavirus slump appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
