Havenoidea
Hamodia, the chareidi newspaper the internet must be protected from, has a particularly egregious editorial in the Wednesday edition.
However, most of us will not realize why.
Under the heading 'The New York Times Declares War" Hamodia decries a series in the Times portraying religious institutions as the beneficiaries of priviliges and largesse that other American organizations cannot aspire to. It makes no less than 8 mentions of The New York Times in a quarter page.
As those of us who have written for Hamodia, or attempted to, are well aware, the mere mention of any other media whatsoever is brutally edited by the same invidual who writes the editorials.
Is it time for Hamodia itself to have the same standards it applies to its writers? Is this inconsistency, as well as invidious, artless, and sometimes embarassing and brutal editing why Hamodia has lost most of its outside talent?
Hamodia is a great service to the chareidi community, and maintains an acceptable standard. However, inbred opinions and overly cautious but uneven editing have led to it not fulfilling its full potential and providing what it can to our community. In addition, their position on 'electronic media' is glaringly inconsistent with what one observes in their office.
May we propose an editorial board for the Hamodia editorial page (and perhaps for its Board of Censors as well)?
posted by Leapa at 10/18/2006 01:30:00 PM
5 Comments:
Your criticism of the Hamodia editorial board is unwarranted I am sure that you're aware that the Hamodia editor is bound to observe the mandate given by the Moetzes Gedolei Torah of the Aguda, in this case that the newspaper print truly "all the news that's fit to print" al pi Torah and Yiddishkeit. In this instance, the NY Times quite vindictive and egregious attack on all religious institutions, the Hamodia had no choice but to mention the name to emphasize the response. I for one haven't noticed a slacking off of quality of articles due to the alleged lack of outside talent. Maybe the Hamodia's internal talent more than makes up for that. The overwhelming fact is that Hamodia is the premier English language Jewish newspaper, if not the premier Jewish newspaper in general. In contrast to the "other" major Jewish newspaper in America, Hamodia provides its readership with quality news articles, as well as general interest and Yiddishkeit articles, all in accordance with our "ultra" Orthodox traditions and concepts. I personally have found the editorial board to be very receptive to constructive criticism.
Theprof:
Splutter............
It seems that the author of "Havenoidea" has never read Hamodia, as all of us who do are well aware that Hamodia frequently quotes virtually all media sources in news stories as well as opinion pieces including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Fox News, CBS, ABC, and others.
His claims that "the mere mention of any other media whatsoever is brutally edited by the same invidual who writes the editorials" is simply untrue - just open up any issue and see for yourself!
Anon & Prof:
1. I think the poster is speaking about the editorial and opinion pages when it comes to attribution, not news pages. (Incidentally, in the first several months of Hamodia there was no attribution of news, either)
2. Prof, who makes up for Yonasan Rosenbloom or A. Birnbaum in talent?
3. Anon, can you point to even a generic mention of the word 'television' or 'internet' on the opinion pages? Have the gedolim decided that these phenomena are not to be confronted?
Anon, it would seem from the post itself that Leapa reads Hamodia.
Otherwise, how would he know about an editorial that violates Hamodia's standards?
Maybe they do need a board . . .
Post a Comment
<< Home