Organization of a new Board of Directors of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency representative of the American Jewish community, was announced today by Eleazar Lipsky, President of the 45-year-old worldwide news service. The board will control and direct the entire JTA operation throughout the world.
Mr. Lipsky said the 25 men and women elected to the board would serve in their individual capacities as representatives of all elements of the American Jewish community and the press. Additional members will be elected, he said, to expand the board’s representative character. He noted that the new board included four members prominent in the publishing field.
The news agency’s executive head called establishment of the new board ” a major step in the reorganization of JTA which should permit us to develop the maximum potential usefulness of this unique service in the best interests of the community.” He said that “the character of the new board is the best possible assurance the American Jewish community can have that the JTA will function independently as an objective, effective news service for the entire Jewish community.”
In addition to Mr. Lipsky, the new JTA Board is composed of Normal L. Cahners of Boston; Edward Ginsberg of Cleveland; and Philip Slomovitz of Detroit, vice-presidents; Isidor Schifrin, Cincinnati, secretary; Abraham Goodman, New York, treasurer; and Lavy Becker, Montreal;Rabbi Isadore Breslau, Washington; Judge David Coleman, Los Angeles; Fred Forman, Rochester, N. Y.; Lawrence Freiman, Ottawa; Arthur Gelber, Toronto; Mrs. Rose L. Halprin, New York; Jerold C. Hoffberger, Baltimore; Label A. Katz, New Orleans; Dr. Emanuel Neumann, New York; Herman M.Pekarsky, Newark, N.J.; Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, Far Rockaway, N. Y.; Louis P. Rocker, New York; Sol Satinsky, Philadelphia; Louis Segal, New York; Isadore Sobeloff, Detroit; Dewey D. Stone, Brockton, Mass.; Benjamin H. Swig, San Francisco, and David White, Houston, Tex.
J.T.A. TO INCREASE AMERICAN NEWS COVERAGE
Mr. Lipsky said one of the objectives of the new board would be to increase the flow of news of the American Jewish community to inform American Jews of what is happening in their own community and to present a fuller, more rounded picture of American Jewish life to the Jews in Israel and elsewhere throughout the world.
He pointed out that the increased flow of domestic news would not cause a reduction in the volume of news from Israel and elsewhere abroad. “We will continue to provide a comprehensive picture of Jewish life in Israel and abroad,” Mr. Lipsky said. “The added American news coverage will be handled by increasing facilities such as publication of the JTA Community News Reporter as a weekly supplement of the PTA Daily News Bulletin.”
Mr. Lipski said that the PTA will have to have communal support in order to operate as an independent agency of the community. He noted that the Large City Budgeting Conference had urged welfare funds to help make possible an independent JTA in 1962 and said the new board would shortly address a formal request to the Jewish community organizations for the support necessary to maintain the agency.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
