Presence

From the Baltimore Jewish Times:

Seeking to better serve its diverse readership, the Baltimore Jewish Times this week announced the founding of a new publication, the Baltimore Orthodox Times. The free weekly will begin publishing on Friday, May 5.

I suppose it was inevitable, but I find it sad. Sure, Baltimore has a thriving Orthodox community, of which I would guess less than 30% actually read the Jewish Times, so there's certainly an untapped market there. But it saddens me that, as a community, we can no longer share a single publication. Are the communities really that far apart in terms of common goals, values and ideals? Unfortunately, it seems so. The signs have been there for quite some time; the reality of it, however, is disheartening.

An article in The City Paper goes into more deatils about the Jewish Times' parent company, Alter Communications, and their plans for the Baltimore Orthodox Times:

The forthcoming Orthodox Jewish Times will likewise avoid "hard-hitting and investigative" content, Buerger says, though neither will it be a pure "cheerleader" for the 20,000-strong religious Jewish community concentrated in the Pikesville and Upper Park Heights neighborhoods. Any unpleasant news about the insular Orthodox world will still be covered by the Jewish Times, he promises.

Right, hopefully they will cover the good stuff as well. I'm afeared that the Jewish Times will inevitably take a more voyeuristic approach to covering the Orthodox community.

Posted by Greg at April 5, 2006 2:09 AM