The Jerusalem Post
  Front page of the The Jerusalem Post, march 20, 2012. | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Mirkaei Tikshoret |
| Editor | Steve Linde |
| Founded |
1 December 1932 (as The Palestine Post) |
| Political alignment | Independent[1] |
| Language | English and French |
| Headquarters | Jerusalem, Israel |
| Circulation |
15,000 (Weekends: 40,000) (International: 40,000)[2] |
| ISSN | 0021-597X |
| Official website | www.jpost.com |
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli-owned daily English-language newspaper, founded on 1 December 1932 by Gershon Agron as the Palestine Post.
History
1925-1950
Founding
The Palestine Bulletin was founded in January 1925 by Jacob Landau of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.[3] It was owned by the Palestine Telegraphic Agency, which was in practice part of the JTA even though it was legally separate.[3] On November 1, 1931, editorship of the Bulletin was taken over by American journalist Gershon Agronsky (later Agron).[4] In March 1932, a dispute arose between Landau and Agronsky, which Agronsky resolved to settle by establishing an independent newspaper.[3] However, Landau and Agronsky instead came to an agreement to transform the Bulletin into a new newspaper that they jointly owned.[3] Accordingly, the Palestine Bulletin published its last issue on November 30, 1932 and the The Palestine Post Incorporating The Palestine Bulletin appeared the following day.[3] On April 25, 1933, the masthead was reduced to just The Palestine Post, though the newspaper continued to state its founding year as 1925 for at least a year afterwards.[5]
During its time as The Palestine Post, the publication supported the struggle for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and openly opposed British policy restricting Jewish immigration during the Mandate period. According to the Historical Jewish Press, The Palestine Post was established "as part of a Zionist-Jewish initiative", and "Zionist institutions considered the newspaper one of the most effective means of exerting influence on the British authorities".[6]
1948 bombing
On the evening of 1 February 1948, a stolen British police car loaded with half a ton of TNT pulled up in front of the Jerusalem office of the Palestine Post; the driver of a second car arrived a few minutes later, lit the fuse and drove off.[7] The building also contained other newspaper offices, the British press censor, the Jewish settlement police, and a Haganah post with a cache of weapons. Arab leader Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni claimed responsibility for the bombing, but historian Uri Milstein reported that the bomb had been prepared by the Nazi-trained Fawzi el-Kutub, known as "the engineer", and that two British army deserters were also involved, Cpl. Peter Mersden and Capt. Eddie Brown.[8][9] Three persons died in the bombing, a newspaper typesetter and two people who lived in a nearby block of flats.[10] Dozens of others were injured and the printing press was destroyed. The morning paper came out in a reduced format of two pages, printed up at a small print shop nearby.[7]
After statehood
In 1950, two years after the State of Israel was declared, the paper was renamed The Jerusalem Post.
Today
The Jerusalem Post newspaper is published from Sunday to Friday, with no edition appearing on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath) and Jewish religious holidays. The current editor-in-chief is Steve Linde, who took over from David Horovitz in 2011. Under Linde, The Jerusalem Post launched an annual conference for readers and the media in New York and a diplomatic conference for foreign diplomats in Herzliya in 2012, as well as a daily television news segment on its website, JPost.com, in 2013. The paper hosts a number of regular opinion columnists who provide insights on particular subjects such as religion, foreign affairs and economics. The paper's current managing editor is David Brinn, its news editor is Ilan Evyatar and night editors are Amy Spiro and Moshe Arenstein.
The paper also publishes editions geared for the foreign market — a Christian edition, a French-language edition and an international edition — as well as several newspapers for children and teenagers.
In January, 2008, the paper announced a new partnership with The Wall Street Journal, including joint marketing and exclusive publication in Israel of The Wall Street Journal Europe.[11]
Some of the material in The Jerusalem Post is translated and included in the free Hebrew daily Israel Post, which is co-owned by Eli Azur, who owns a controlling stake in The Jerusalem Post.
The Jerusalem Post also publishes a monthly magazine titled Ivrit. Its target audience is people learning Hebrew language and it is described as "an easy-Hebrew" publication, meant for improving basic Hebrew reading skills. It uses the vowel notation system to make comprehension of the alephbet abjad simpler.[12]
The Jerusalem Post also publishes The Jerusalem Report, a glossy magazine that comes out every two weeks.
Ownership changes
Until 1989, the paper supported the forerunners of the Labor Party. In 1989, the paper was purchased by Hollinger Inc. A number of journalists resigned from the Post after Conrad Black's takeover and founded The Jerusalem Report, a weekly magazine eventually sold to the Post. The leader of the walkout was David Landau, who founded Haaretz English Edition and went on to become editor-in-chief of Haaretz until 2009.
On 16 November 2004, Hollinger sold the paper to Mirkaei Tikshoret Ltd., a Tel Aviv-based publisher of Israeli newspapers. CanWest Global Communications, Canada's biggest media concern, had announced an agreement to take a 50 percent stake in the Jerusalem Post after Mirkaei bought the property, but the deal soured. The two sides went to arbitration, and CanWest lost.[13]
Notable contributors
In addition to columns, blogs and opinion pieces by Jerusalem Post journalists and writers, the site features regular and guest posts by contributors, from politicians and celebrities to academics and policy experts—who contribute on a wide range of topics.
Prominent contributors include:
- Caroline B. Glick
- Shmuley Boteach
- Alan Dershowitz
- Irwin Cotler
- Gershon Baskin
- Michael Freund
- Herb Keinon
- Uri Savir
- Martin Sherman
- Sarah Honig
- Liat Collins
- David Weinberg
Websites
JPost.com
The Jerusalem Post group also publishes an online edition found at, and colloquially referred to as, JPost.com. The site primarily covers news from Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East. Sara Miller took over from Elana Kirsh as managing editor of JPost.com, in January 2013.[14] Miller was formerly the long-standing chief editor of Haaretz.com.
JPost.com was launched in December 1996. Its current version also contains a French language edition (fr.jpost.com), blogs, an ePaper version of the daily newspaper, a range of magazines and other web versions of the Group's products.
According to Alexa Internet traffic rankings, JPost.com is among the top 3,000 websites in the United States.[15] The site is an entity separate from the daily newspaper. While sharing several reporters - it is managed by different teams. Its staff is based in Tel Aviv, while the newspaper offices are located in Jerusalem.[16]
The site contains archives that go back to 1989, and the default search on the site sends users to archive listings, powered by ProQuest, where articles can be purchased.[17] Free blurbs of the article are available as well, and full articles are available when linked to directly from navigation within JPost.com or from a search engine.
JPost.com includes the "Premium Zone" - a pay-wall protected area, containing additional Jerusalem Post articles and special features. Tamara Zieve is the site's Premium Zone editor. The site has also recently launched a new, redesigned "Lifestyle" page and Yoni Cohen is JPost.com's lifestyle editor. The site also recently relaunched its mobile and tablet applications, as well as its special edition for mobile viewing.
Blogs
Jpost.com has a broad range of bloggers, covering a wide variety of topics. Notable bloggers include Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, Professor Gil Troy, and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, former president of the Union for Reform Judaism in North America.
JPost TV Daily News
In May 2013, JPost.com launched an online daily newscast, which goes out every weekday. The edition is anchored by British journalist Camilla Schick, who holds a MA in international journalism from City University London and who previously worked for the BBC. Each newscast is aired around 5 p.m. Israel time (GMT+2).[18][19][20]
Political orientation
In the newspaper's history there have been periods of sharp change in its political orientation, which caused some damage to JPost. Prior to 1989, it had maintained a strong left orientation. After it was acquired by Conrad Black, it became right-wing, which led to the loss of some of its former readers - nearly halving its circulation.[21] A leading part of the former editors and journalists left the newspaper and founded the weekly Jerusalem Report, which then sold back to the Jerusalem Post. In 2004, the newspaper again changed owners and political orientation, which, however, did not return subscribers.
