A statement mourning the death of Jacob Landau, founder of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and emphasizing that his passing is “a distinct loss to American Jewry, “was issued here today by the American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, through its president, Philip Slomovitz.
“Until the establishment of the JTA, Jews everywhere were dependent upon numerous disinterested services for the dissemination of news affecting Jewish life,” the statement said. “Only in the negative aspects did AP, UP, INS fulfill the task of keeping us fully informed on what was happening to Jews. They reported pogroms and persecutions. That was news in Jewish life. The creative aspects were reduced to fillers and to incidentals.
“The JTA stepped in to fill a gap. Then came the great happenings in Jewry–the development of Palestinian settlements, the tragedies that were brought about by Nazism, the resistance of Jews to persecutions and to interferences in the Holy Land by the British and the rise of the Jewish State. These needed complete coverage, and that was possible only through a Jewish service. The JTA fulfilled this need. It became a great cause.
“Jacob Landau made the JTA possible. It was his brainchild. It was his life’s work. He built it with devotion and he secured for it the respect of the entire world, non-Jews as well as Jews. We mourn his passing and we pay tribute to his memory. JTA continues to serve as the most impressive monument a person could possibly hope for.”
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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.
