It is a gratifying co-incidence that two such divergently different periodicals as the very Jewish “Opinion” and the very Catholic “Commonweal” should pay their considered tributes to the work of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Writing in the April issue, “Opinion” takes occasion to draw a moral from the events in Germany. It says:
“What has long been clear to many leaders of Jewish thought, among whom is numbered the distinguished Albert Einstein, has just been forcibly brought to the attention of all Jewry: namely, that the Jewish Telegraphic Agency is one of the most important and most needed institutions in Jewish life. The tragic situation in Germany emphasizes the service which this Agency renders to world Jewry in keeping a corps of intrepid and intelligent journalists whose sole duty is to gather the news which affects the Jews and to present it to the Jewish people.
“Although the American press has competently and courageously ‘covered’ the recent happenings in Germany, the correspondents of the non-Jewish papers have not been able to reach the byways and corners of the Reich, nor have they been able to circumvent entirely the censorship that has been clamped down by a dictator who fears the aroused conscience of mankind. The Jewish reporters, on the other hand, knowing how much is dependent on their efforts, have sought out the hidden facts and have slipped through the suppressed information.
“It is easy therefore to congratulate the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on its fifteenth anniversary at a time when its contribution is so palpable and so vital.
“The lack of a large Jewish press has made the J.T.A. particularly dependent on individual support. It must therefore be emphasized that all who are conscious of the importance of the service which the Agency renders should express their conviction by concrete assistance to this institution and to its subsidiary The Jewish Daily Bulletin that both may continue to receive our congratulations in long life and meritorious service.”
The “Commonweal” is led to its observations on the work of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency by a consideration of the subject of religious persecution and the value of an educated public opinion as a defensive weapon.
Writing under the heading “Catholics take Warning”, it discusses the silence of Catholics in the face of certain happenings in the Catholic world and goes on to say:
“The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, for example, has its trained journalists throughout the world. It publishes a daily newspaper. Nothing but verifiable, properly presented facts and reasonable editorial opinions. That paper goes to the desk of people who really mould and control the organized forces of public opinion. Its world-wide despatches are accepted by newspapers everywhere. World-wide Jewry is thus made articulate and has won the right to have its views respectfully considered because of the accurate, professional competence of its system of journalism, supplemented by active, vigorous, Jewish organizations, and Jewish representation on inter-faith organizations, by able men who know how to muster and direct great masses of moral force. Propaganda? Yes, of course—but propaganda in the legitimate, honorable, reasonable, humane sense of the word. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency could not long exist if it did not do its splendid work conpetently and honorably.”
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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.
