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 Front page, 17 January 1896, showing article byTheodor Herzl) | |
| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Editor | Daniel Schwammenthal |
| Founded | 1841 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | London |
| Country | England |
| Circulation | 10,082 (as of 2024)[1] |
| ISSN | 0021-633X |
| Website | thejc |
The Jewish Chronicle (The JC) is aLondon-basedJewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewishnewspaper in the world.[2] Its editor (since January 2025[update]) is Daniel Schwammenthal.
The newspaper is published every Friday (except when this is aJewish holiday, when it appears earlier in the week) providing news, opinion pieces, social, cultural and sports reports, as well as editorials and a spectrum of readers' opinions on the letter page. The news section of its website is updated several times a day.
The average weekly circulation in 2024 was 10,082, of which 4,442 were free copies, down from 32,875 in 2008.[3][4] In February 2020, it announced plans to merge with theJewish News but, in April 2020, entered voluntary liquidation and was acquired from the liquidators by a private consortium of political insiders, broadcasters and bankers. The paper's political stance under editorJake Wallis Simons subsequently moved to the right.[5]
In 2024,The Guardian reported that some of the newspaper's prominent journalists had quit the newspaper due to its purportedly unknown ownership arrangements and publication of fabricated stories.[6][7][8]
The Jewish Chronicle first appeared on 12 November 1841. Its first editors were David Meldola andMoses Angel. It was issued as a weekly until May 1842, when it was suspended. From October 1844, it resumed as a fortnightly, with Joseph Mitchell as its editor. In 1847, it became again a weekly newspaper.A. Benisch, who became the proprietor and editor in 1855, bequeathed the paper to theAnglo-Jewish Association in 1878, who sold it to its new editor and anti-ZionistAsher I. Myers,Sydney M. Samuel and Israel David.[9]
In 1881, the leaders of the Jewish community in London were being criticised for not campaigning against thepogroms that were taking place in the Russian Empire. Under the leadership ofFrancis Henry Goldsmid, the pogroms were not mentioned by the newspaper and it was only after the feministLouisa Goldsmid gave her support following calls to arms by an anonymous writer named "Juriscontalus" and Asher Myers ofThe Jewish Chronicle that action was taken. Public meetings were then held across the country and Jewish and Christian leaders in Britain spoke out against the atrocities.[10]
In December 1906,L.J. Greenberg, a successful advertising agent and English Zionist leader, contacted the Dutch banker Jacobus Kann with the object of buyingThe Jewish Chronicle to promoteZionism.[11] The same month, Greenberg, together with David Wolffsohn, Joseph Cowen, Jacobus H. Kahn, and Leopold Kessler, bought the shares. Greenberg himself became its editor.[9]
At the time,The Jewish Chronicle gained a near monopoly in the Jewish press, taking over its principal competitors,The Hebrew Observer andThe Jewish World. Only in October 1919 didThe JC get a strong opposing voice fromThe Jewish Guardian, the paper of theLeague of British Jews, which counterbalanced the Zionist views ofThe JC, until it disappeared in 1931. After Greenberg died the same year,The JC remained moderately pro-Zionist under the leadership ofLeopold Kessler.[9]
The weekly newspaperThe Jewish World was taken over in 1913. It published articles by various Zionist leaders, as well as early non-Jewish pro-Zionists. In 1934, it was merged withThe Jewish Chronicle.[12] After 1948, the paper maintained a pro-Israel attitude.
In the late 1930s,David F. Kessler became managing director to assist his chairman fatherLeopold Kessler, a moderate Zionist and an associate ofTheodor Herzl, known as the father of theState of Israel. After service as a soldier inWorld War II during which his father had died, Kessler found that the editor,Ivan Greenberg, had taken a right-wing Zionist position highly critical of moderate Zionists and the British policy in Palestine. Kessler, after a struggle with the newspaper's board, sacked Greenberg and installed a moderate editor.[13]
By the early 1960s, the Kessler family owned 80% of the newspaper's shares. To safeguard the newspaper's future, Kessler created a foundation ownership structure loosely modelled on theScott Trust, owners ofThe Guardian. Kessler was chairman for nearly 30 years, until his death in 1999.[13]
Joseph Finklestone wrote for the paper from 1946 to 1992 in roles including sports editor, chief sub-editor, home news editor, assistant editor, foreign editor, and diplomatic editor.[14]
Geoffrey Paul (né Goldstein) was editor between 1977 and 1990.[15]
Editors ofThe Jewish Chronicle have includedNed Temko, 1990 to 2005, Jeff Barak (managing editor, 2006), who returned to Israel, and David Rowan, 2006 to 2008, who joinedThe Observer.[16]Stephen Pollard became editor in November 2008[17] and editor-at-large in December 2021. He was succeeded as editor by Jake Wallis Simons.[18]
In 2018, the newspaper made a loss of about £1.1 million, following a loss of £460,000 in the previous year.[4] After a number of years of declining circulation and a pension deficit, the reserves of its owners since 1984, the charity The Kessler Foundation,[19] had been exhausted and they planned to introduce revenue and cost measures to reduce losses.[20] According to the editor, the paper had been facing the "real threat" of having to close[4] and thePress Gazette reported its situation as "facing a grave closure threat".Jonathan Goldstein, chairman of theJewish Leadership Council, organised a consortium of 20 individuals, families and charitable trusts to make donations to The Kessler Foundation to enable its continued support of the newspaper.Alan Jacobs, founder ofJacobs Capital, became the new chairman.[4][21]
In February 2020,The Jewish Chronicle andJewish News announced plans to merge, subject to raising the necessary finance to support the merger. Combined, they printed more than 40,000 copies weekly.[22]
On 8 April 2020,The Jewish Chronicle went into liquidation, and both papers announced their intentions to close, due to theCOVID lockdown.[23][24][25][26] In April 2020, when theChronicle faced closure due to financial problems during the Covid pandemic, threats to the paper's survival were met by sadness and some jubilation, with journalistsJonathan Freedland andHadley Freeman expressing sorrow, and someLabour supporters welcoming its demise.[27]
The Kessler Trust launched a bid to buy the two papers, giving editorial control to the senior staff of theNews. However, a £2.5 million counter-offer, supported by the editor, was accepted by the liquidators and trust in whatThe Guardian described as a brief but messy takeover bid.[28][29][30] The consortium was led byRobbie Gibb and includedJohn Woodcock, broadcastersJonathan Sacerdoti andJohn Ware andJonathan Kandel, formerCharity Commission chairmanWilliam Shawcross,Rabbi Jonathan Hughes,Investec's corporate and institutional banking chief operating officerRobert Swerling, managing partner atEMK Capital Mark Joseph, andTom Boltman, head of strategic initiatives atKovrr, with support from anonymous philanthropists.[31][30][32]
The consortium said it was running the paper as a community asset, not for profit, and that it would set up a trust to ensure its editorial independence.[32][33] TheNews was then taken out of liquidation.[30][32][33] However, the identity of other backers in the consortium was unknown, which is highly unusual for a significant UK newspaper.[7] Ware toldThe Times in September 2024, "I, and some others, repeatedly asked to be told who the new funders were. We were told that wouldn't be possible. I was assured that they were politically mainstream and I trusted those assurances because I trusted who gave them. I didn't want the paper to fold so I allowed my name to be used, having been told it would help. I had zero managerial, financial or editorial influence, control or input, nor ever have had. It was just a name."[34] Due to concerns over the publication's new editorial line under Wallis Simons, Ware stopped writing forThe Jewish Chronicle in February 2024, defecting to theJewish News.[34] FormerChronicle journalist Lee Harpin said in September 2024 that after the takeover he was told the new owners wanted more views "well to the right of the Tory party".[35]
Some sources suggested that the funding may have come from a right-wing American billionaire,Paul Singer, known as a "longtime supporter of hawkish pro-Israel causes", theLikud party, andBenjamin Netanyahu. However, Singer's hedge-fund company has denied the claim.[7] There were also concerns about the potential conflict of interest for Gibb, who sat on the BBC's editorial standards committee while the JC editor had been critical of the BBC's coverage of theIsrael-Gaza conflict.[7]
On 15 March 2024,The Jewish Chronicle announced ownership of the paper would transfer to a newly createdcharitable trust.[36] In September 2024, its editor toldThe Guardian the ownership transfer had taken place in July 2024, butThe Guardian could find no evidence of the transfer inCompanies House records, and theCharity Commission said that it had no record of an application fromThe Jewish Chronicle. However Jonathan Kandel, a former tax lawyer apparently now associated with investment companyStarwood Capital Group, was listed at Companies House as a person with significant control, replacing Jonathan Kandel, and a director of Jewish Chronicle Media.[37][35]
In September 2024,The Jewish Chronicle removed several articles from its website that had been criticised by Israeli media as fabrications.[5][38][39][40] The nine reports were written by Elon Perry, a freelancer with no apparent track record as a journalist who had provided a questionable résumé.[citation needed] One of his articles claimed Israel had intelligence that Hamas leaderYahya Sinwar was planning to smuggle Israeli hostages to Iran and accompany them there.[41][5] This echoed a talking point previously raised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and was seen by commentators in Israel as an attempt to drum up support for Netanyahu's unpopular stance in hostage negotiations at the time.[42] IDF spokespersonDaniel Hagari said he was unaware of any intelligence about Sinwar intending to flee to Iran with hostages.[42]
On 15 September 2024, four prominent long-time columnists,David Aaronovitch,David Baddiel,Jonathan Freedland andHadley Freeman, resigned from the newspaper due to their view that it was making political rather than journalistic judgements, and because of the recent fabricated stories.Sunday Times journalist Josh Glancy had resigned with similar concerns in 2023.[6][8][43]
On 18 September 2024, aHaaretz opinion piece by Etan Nechin stated the view thatThe JC had "increasingly abandonedjournalistic integrity in order to champion causes widely associated with theIsraeli right" and was "predisposed to deception".[37][44]
Under the ownership of Asher Myers and Israel Davis, from 1878, the paper was hostile to Zionism, in line with the official positions of the religious and lay leaders of the community. After Leopold Greenberg had taken over the paper in 1906, it became strongly Zionist, and it was made into "a firm and influential champion of Zionism".[45]
The JC supported the 1917Balfour Declaration, the publication of which was postponed for a week in order to allowThe Jewish Chronicle to publish its opinion in time. After the Declaration was issued, however, the paper became critical ofChaim Weizmann. Greenberg was discontented with the too vague definition of the Zionist goals and wanted him to state clearly that Palestine must be politically Jewish. He wanted to define the "National Home" as a Jewish Commonwealth.[46] Although JC's support of Zionism somewhat decreased after Greenberg's death, it has consistently devoted considerable space to Israel and Zionism.[9]
Under Leopold Greenberg,The Jewish Chronicle was hostile to the Reform and Liberal movements in Britain. Over the years, attention shifted from Orthodoxy in Anglo-Jewry to developments in Progressive Judaism, while becoming more critical of the Orthodox position onhalakhic issues.[9]
In 2009, responding to the issue of bias, then-editorStephen Pollard said "But don't forget who our readership is. They are interested in getting the news about Israel. It's not a biased view. We are presenting one aspect of all the news that is going on. Nobody gets all their news fromThe JC; we're a complementary news source."[17] In 2014, he apologised on behalf of the paper for running an advertisement by theDisasters Emergency Committee appealing for funds for humanitarian relief forGaza. He said that he and the paper did not support the appeal and were "entirely supportive" ofOperation Protective Edge. He disputed the reported number of civilian casualties and asserted that many were terrorists.[47]
In June 2019, Pollard said, "I think in the last few years there's certainly been a huge need for the journalism thatThe JC does in especially looking at theanti-Semitism in the Labour party and elsewhere" and "there's such a huge need for our proper crusading independent journalism". Kessler Foundation chair Clive Wolman said: "In the end, we and the JC Trust decided that our primary consideration had to be to preserve the editorial independence ofThe JC, particularly at a time when its journalists are playing such an important role in exposing antisemitism in British politics."[4] In July 2019, Pollard said that the Jewish community wants "to see [the current Labour Party leadership] removed from any significant role in public life."[48][non-primary source needed]
In 2024, an unnamed consortium member characterisedThe Jewish Chronicle's editorial position on Israel as "my country, right or wrong", describing its editor, Wallis Simons, as "behaving like a political activist, not a journalist".[7]
In September 2014,The Jewish Chronicle published an editorial alleging theRoyal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) voted for a ban on Israelis joining theInternational Union of Architects (IUA) and was in effect a "ban on Jews" and thus antisemitic.[49] The RIBA motion had called for the suspension of theIsraeli Association of United Architects over the building of illegal settlements in Palestine.[50][51] Following a complaint to thePress Complaints Commission, theChronicle published a letter of response from David Mond, in which he accused the paper of inspiring "its readers to see antisemitism in every critic" of Israel.[52]
In August 2016, dozens of prominent Jewish activists includingMiriam Margolyes,Ilan Pappe andMichael Rosen signed an open letter censuring the newspaper for what they accused of being "McCarthyite" "character assassination" ofJeremy Corbyn after the paper published "seven key questions" for Corbyn, including on his ties toHolocaust deniers, featuring his referral of theHamas andHezbollah to as "friends".[53]
In December 2019,The Jewish Chronicle published an article byMelanie Phillips, asserting thatIslamophobia was a bogus term to provide cover for antisemites. TheBoard of Deputies of British Jews described its publication as an "error". Editor Stephen Pollard acknowledged that "A number of people within the Jewish community, and friends of the community, have expressed their dismay – and anger – at its content."[54]
WhenThe Jewish Chronicle faced closure due to financial problems in April 2020, formerANC politician andanti-apartheid activistAndrew Feinstein alleged: "The Jewish Chronicle's equating of antisemitism withcriticism of Israel has put back the struggle against real AS & all racism by years." Meanwhile, the freelance journalist Mira Bar-Hillel rejoiced at the paper's potential closure as "the best news of the day", accusing it of being a "pathetic rag".[55][undue weight? –discuss]
In July 2021, a letter was sent to the British press regulatory bodyIPSO requesting a standards investigation intoThe Jewish Chronicle due to what the signatories believed to be "systemic" failings. The nine signatories were mostly linked to the Labour party and had complaints about factually inaccurate reporting upheld by the regulator between 2018 and 2021 or, in three instances, had been libelled by the paper. The complainants alleged that the paper's editorial standards were "shockingly low" and stated that "unless standards there improve there will be more victims, while readers will continue to be misled."[56][57]
Writing in theByline Times,Brian Cathcart, Professor of Journalism atKingston University, argued that IPSO had failed to act on "the collapse of journalism standards atThe Jewish Chronicle", which he stated had "been found by the IPSO itself to have breached its code of practice 28 times." He suggested IPSO's failure to act was in part due to the regulator's unwillingness to attract accusations of attempting to silence the paper from theConservative Party, who benefitted politically from the debate around antisemitism in the Labour Party, in which the paper was a prominent player. He also identifiedThe Jewish Chronicle's ownerRobbie Gibb as an obstacle to an IPSO investigation into standards at the paper.[58]
In 2021, members of theWikipedia community debatedThe Jewish Chronicle's coverage of left-wing and Muslim groups. It wascategorized as a generally reliable source despite concerns about bias.[59]
In 1968,The Jewish Chronicle published an article by Labour MPMaurice Edelman saying that another Labour MP,Christopher Mayhew, had made antisemitic comments on a television programme. Mayhew sued for libel, arguing that his comments wereanti-Zionist, but not antisemitic. He dropped the case after receiving a public apology from both Edelman and the newspaper in theHigh Court.[60][61] A complaint by Mayhew to thePress Council in April 1971, about the editing of a published letter to the editor, was denied.[62]
In 2009, an activist for theInternational Solidarity Movement (an organisation which campaigns for Palestinian rights) accepted £30,000 damages and an apology from the paper over a letter it had published claiming that he had harboured two suicide bombers.[63][64]
In August 2017,The Jewish Chronicle published an adjudication by theIndependent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) as a result of a court report that the newspaper had published. The regulator considered the article had breached clause 9 the Editors' Code of Practice, which relates to the reporting of crime. IPSO ruled that the JC had published details of the family members of the defendant without valid justification.[65][66][non-primary source needed]
In August 2019, the British charityPalestinian Relief and Development Fund (Interpal) received an apology, damages of £50,000 and legal costs afterThe Jewish Chronicle published "false and defamatory allegations", implying that it had links to terrorist activity.[67] On 23 August, the paper published a full apology, together with an article byIbrahim Hewitt, chair of trustees of Interpal.[68][69]
In November 2019,The Jewish Chronicle published a ruling by IPSO that it had breached the Editors' Code of Practice in relation to claims in four articles about a Labour Party member published in early 2019. IPSO also expressed significant concerns about the newspaper's failure to answer IPSO's questions and said it considered that the publication's conduct during the investigation was not appropriate.[70] In February 2020,The Jewish Chronicle acknowledged that they had made untrue allegations, for which they apologised, and agreed to pay damages and legal costs.[71][72][73]
In September 2020,The Jewish Chronicle published an apology to a councillor about whom the newspaper had printed numerous allegations. The newspaper asserted that the councillor was involved in inviting an activist, who it deemed to be antisemitic, to a Labour Party event; that the councillor ignored "antisemitic statements" made by a fellow activist; and that the councillor had "launched a vicious protest againstLuciana Berger in terms suggestive of antisemitism" and had tried to "improperly interfere with a democratic vote at a regional Labour Party meeting".[74] In addition to the apology,The Jewish Chronicle, its editor Stephen Pollard, and senior reporter Lee Harpin paid substantial[quantify] libel damages and the legal costs.[75][76]
In March 2021,The Jewish Chronicle printed an article about political activist and journalistMarc Wadsworth which stated that he was involved in a "conspiracy to intimidate, threaten or harass Jewish activists into silence" in an online meeting of the Labour in Exile Network. In reality Wadsworth had not attended the meeting, had issued no such threats and was not a member of the Labour in Exile Network. The newspaper admitted the story was false in all respects,[77] issued an apology,[78][79] and agreed to pay substantial damages and legal costs.[80] The presiding judge stated "This was a serious mistake for the Jewish Chronicle to have made."[81] Following the libel verdict, theMorning Star printed an extract from Wadsworth's statement, in which he said he was "deeply distressed thatThe Jewish Chronicle did not check its facts or contact me before its article was written."[82][77][79][better source needed]
In August 2021The Telegraph said that eight complaints to IPSO about the paper had been upheld, two were not upheld, and two were resolved through mediation in the preceding three years,[57] whileBrian Cathcart, for theByline Times, said the paper had 33 breaches of the Editors Code within a similar timeframe.[83]
In November 2022The Jewish Chronicle published an opinion column byZoe Strimpel that included a statement that "the Islamic Republic [of Iran] has repeatedly vowed to wipe Israel and Jews off the face of the Earth". In April 2023 IPSO ruled that this was inaccurate, and hence breached Clause 1 of the Editors' Code of Practice. IPSO orderedThe JC to publish a correction, equal in prominence to the original column.[84][85]
In April 2023, IPSO upheld a complaint on behalf of RabbiYisroel Dovid Weiss about whomThe Jewish Chronicle twice (online and in print) wrote a claim ofHolocaust denial. The claim had initially been made byAssociated Press but was retracted in 2007.The Jewish Chronicle knew this in advance of publication.[86] IPSO upheld complaints under Accuracy Clause 1; they considered the newspaper's behaviour "unacceptable" and reported their "significant concerns" to IPSO's Standards department.[87][88]
IPSO's 2023 annual statement recorded thatThe Jewish Chronicle had the second equal most breaches of its Editors' Code by all newspapers that year, with four breaches, one less thanThe Daily Telegraph.[89]
Other than the tiny number of members of the Corbynite propaganda group JVL, the entire Jewish community is united in the goal of ensuring that the antisemites who now run the Labour Party are defeated. We may differ on whether that defeat can or should happen only within the Labour Party or at the ballot box, but we want to see them removed from any significant role in public life.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is now officially antisemitic. On Wednesday, it voted to support a ban on Jews from joining the International Union of Architects. It didn't put it quite like that, of course. The wording of its motion referred to 'Israelis' rather than 'Jews'. But in singling out the Jewish state for opprobrium, over and above every other nation on earth, and in seeking to ban Jews — sorry, Israelis — from membership, the driving force behind both the BDS campaign and its RIBA conspirators is clear. Jew hatred lives on in RIBA.
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