JTA Assistant Editor Resigns to Assume Post in Milwaukee

Andrew Muchin will be stepping down Friday from his position as assistant editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a job he has held nearly two years.

Muchin, 30, has resigned to become editor of The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, where he served as managing editor before joining JTA in August 1986.

JTA Editor Mark Joffe is restructuring the assistant editor job and expects to appoint a person to fill the position soon. Joffe, who worked closely with Muchin, praised the assistant editor’s hard work and success at improving many of JTA’s editorial products.

“Andy’s conscientiousness, his thoroughness and his good humor have been valuable to our operation,” said Joffe. “The staff and I personally will miss him a great deal.”

Mark Seal, executive vice president of JTA, also had warm words for Muchin, saying that he had “increased the level of professionalism” at the agency.

“Andy substantially improved our feature service and made the Community News Reporter an indispensable and interesting publication,” he said, referring to two of Muchin’s major responsibilities.

William Lee Frost, president of JTA, observed that Muchin played “a very significant role in improving relations between the agency and the American Jewish press.” He noted that JTA had profited tremendously from Muchin’s experience working on a Jewish weekly and his awareness of the needs of client newspapers.

Muchin leaves the New York area next week and expects to begin work in Milwaukee in late April.

“I’ve learned a tremendous amount about journalism and the Jewish community here,” he said. “I hope to apply that knowledge at my new job and in living my life. I also leave realizing how important JTA is to the general knowledge of the Jewish community.”