Why We Added Obama, Part 2
It’s not every day that The Blaze, Glenn Beck’s website, responds to this blog, and I’m glad they did. In our latest back and forth, the editor pointed out that our presentation on our website of this year’s Forward 50 was confusing at first.
Fair enough. It was.
Though the Forward 50 was started more than 15 years ago by Seth Lipsky, the founding editor of the English Forward, it’s only been in the last few years that we have experimented with presenting the names, faces and profiles on line in new and interesting ways.
This year, we created a nifty slide show based on the way we presented the profiles in our print edition. (We also have a great video by our own Nate Lavey about the top five on the list.) But initially, the last name on the list — our 51st slot, reserved for a non-Jew who we think impacted the Jewish story more than anyone else this year — wasn’t given a special designation. If you read the blurb about Barack Obama, you would know why he was placed where he was, but in fairness, we didn’t highlight that he was, in our parlance, a Plus One.
Honestly, I’m not sure whether it was The Blaze’s reaction, or just our own analysis when looking at the site on Friday, but we did, indeed, make the change.
I’m happy to give The Blaze credit. As for the suggestion that the slot really belonged to Glenn Beck — in the spirit of cooperative dialogue, I’ll just say that we’ll take it under advisement for next year.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
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.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30