Shtetl: Haredi Free Press is a media outlet founded in 2023 to cover the Haredi Jewish community.
History
Naftuli Moster, founder and former executive director of activist group Young Advocates for Fair Education, announced in November 2022 the upcoming launch of online media outlet Shtetl: Haredi Free Press in early 2023. Moster stated that the outlet would produce independent journalism to fill a news desert in the Haredi media landscape. Shtetl launched in November 2023.
Staffing
The board included seasoned Jewish journalists, including Larry Cohler-Esses of The Forward and Ari Goldman of Columbia University. Moster was the founding editor-in-chief and the website launched with one staff reporter, a non-Haredi.
Editorial and reception
Some reaction was praise for a news outlet that could hold communal institutions to account. According to activist Elad Nehorai, most Haredi outlets were more akin to community newspapers than journalistic enterprises. Shtetl aimed to cover stories about the Haredi community with cultural and linguistic context other news outlets were not suited for. Critics argued that Shtetl had a political agenda to undermine the community, including Avi Shafran of Agudath Israel of America, who claimed that Shtetl would be focused only on the negatives of the community. NPR contrasted Shtetl's "warts and all" goals with Hamodia.
References
- ^ Hajdenberg, Jackie (2022-11-30). "A 'haredi free press' grows in Brooklyn, igniting both excitement and resentment". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
- ^ Rosenfeld, Arno (2022-11-29). "Critic of yeshiva education promises 'independent' coverage of Haredi issues in new publication". The Forward. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
- ^ Kalish, Jon (2023-09-06). "A new website reports on the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community". NPR. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
 | This article needs additional or more specific categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar articles. (August 2024) |