The Jewish Week Defends Its Disgraceful Reporting Following Leiby Kletzky Tragedy

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levaya-of-leiby-kletzkyBy Noam Amdurski, Matzav.com

The truth must hurt. That’s the conclusion one draws after reading an editorial by Gary Rosenblatt, Editor and Publisher of The Jewish Week, a so-called “Jewish” newspaper, which has made its mark by reporting incessantly about all the wrongs it can find in the frum community. Rosenblatt goes on the defensive after his newspaper was exposed, even to the doubters, for its blatant anti-Orthodox bias.

Both Rabbi Avi Shafran (see here), director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, in Ami Magazine, and Marvin Schick (see here), who writes a paid-for column in The Jewish Week, criticized the newspaper for its disgraceful reporting following the Leiby Kletzky tragedy.

“We generally choose not to respond to such charges, trusting that our readers can judge for themselves over time whether or not we are biased in our coverage. But such inflammatory rhetoric should not go unchallenged,” says Rosenblatt in his editorial, which he titled, “Is It ‘Anti-Orthodox’ To Seek A Safer Community?” suggesting that his newspaper and reporter were driven solely by their interest in ensuring the “safety” of the community.

“It is sad, if not maddening, when this newspaper is labeled ‘anti-Orthodox’ for its reporting on scandals and other disturbing incidents in a segment of the community whose culture places a high value on policing itself,” claims Rosenblatt.

Perhaps more maddening to us, in the Torah community, is that Mr. Rosenblatt couldn’t admit that his newspaper – which hardly ever has a positive word to say about the Orthodox community – was out of line. People make mistakes, but Rosenblatt can’t admit that the newspaper under his stewardship made an egregious one in its reporting following the tragedy and for lambasting Shomrim of Boro Park without naming a single source.

You’re not missing much, but should you wish to read Mr. Rosenblatt’s comments, continue here and then at the link below:

By Gary Rosenblatt, The Jewish Week

It is sad, if not maddening, when this newspaper is labeled “anti-Orthodox” for its reporting on scandals and other disturbing incidents in a segment of the community whose culture places a high value on policing itself.

Such accusations are not new, but they have ratcheted up significantly in recent days following the tragic death of young Leiby Kletzky of Borough Park, and The Jewish Week’s report and Editorial (July 22 issue) calling into question the role of the much-respected community watchdog group, Shomrim, in terms of its procedures and relations with law enforcement authorities.

The headline last week of an Orthodox magazine, Ami, used the word “slander” in referring to our reporting on Shomrim. Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, wrote in Ami, where he is editor at large, that The Jewish Week “seems bent on viewing and portraying the charedi community with” a “jaundiced eye.”

Marvin Schick, an expert in the field of Jewish education who writes a paid-for column in The Jewish Week, goes further in his criticism, proclaiming in a blog that “Orthodoxy-bashing is alive and well” at The Jewish Week, which he said has reached a new low in offering up “a vile exercise in group libel.”

We generally choose not to respond to such charges, trusting that our readers can judge for themselves over time whether or not we are biased in our coverage. But such inflammatory rhetoric should not go unchallenged.

It should be noted that The Jewish Week, chastised for alleged insensitivity, published a full-page article on the large-scale communal search for Leiby in our July 15 issue (“Volunteers Scour Borough Park For Missing Child”), which went to press while the youngster’s whereabouts were still unknown.

Read the rest of the editorial here.

{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}


17 COMMENTS

  1. Well, thankfully it ruffled some feathers. He’ll think twice before trying such vitriall again. His weekly rag is dead

  2. This is nonsense.He doesn’t respond to actual criticism in any way: The “Jewish” Week had a Jewish anti Semite, Hella Winston, write an entire article against Shomrim and the frum community at large.She didn’t have a single named source or specific situation just a bunch of allegations from unnamed sources.And then the “Jewish” Week has the nerve to bring up Tisha B’Av and the three weeks.

  3. I say liberal yiden and extreme leftist are slightly brain dead. Never changing an opinion, or any bias against religion. Even if circumstances are a blatant proof of a mistake. This a Liberal Jew once admitted to me quite openly!

  4. simcha it works both ways this hate is also coming from youre holier then thou philosophy, lets face the facts it takes to to tango so you see youre just as guilty as the one you critisize.

  5. While he may be wrong, Gary does provide a good response. Instead of writing that “it is not worth reading” this article would be more effective it it actually responded to the points Gary makes.

  6. The Jewish Week does not employ an ombudsman who can at least pretend to be objective. Rosenblatt is the editor and owner and has a clear bias so nothing he writes is worth commenting on.
    If they had journalistic standards, they’d have an ombudsman and that report might be worth reading and considering.

  7. It’s nothing new with the Jewish Week. It’s just that this time they so embarrassed themselves, capitalizing on a tragedy to stick it to their biggest enemies: frum Jews.

    Gary is a nice person, but his newspaper stinks and its rabid anti-Semitism toward religious Jews is sickening.

  8. I don’t know what you’re all up in arms about. There is nothing in the Jewish Week’s piece that is remotely anti-Semitic. It’s a balanced look at what could have gone wrong in the Leiby Kletzky’s case, and we would do well to learn from mistakes. Of course the essay does not included named sources……..Boro Park people are not likely to go on the record with information, but there is enough in there, that even without names, is credible and worrisome. Open your eyes, people, and let yourselves be objective.

  9. The Jewish Week invented a fake “unnamed anonymous police source” in their anti-Orthodox claim that police are angry at Shomrim. They published that very lie just days after NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelley publicly at a police press conference at 1 Police Plaza thanked and praised Shomrim.

  10. JOMADAR, your comments would be taken more seriously if your spelling would improve. I counted five spelling mistakes in your three line opus. “to to tango” is really a classic.

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