Four columnists have quit the Jewish Chronicle amid a crisis over its political direction, standards and ownership secrecy.
The move follows the JC’s decision last week to delete all the articles written for it by freelance journalist Elon Perry.
These included a claim, based on “intelligence sources”, that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to smuggle himself and Israeli hostages out of Gaza and into Egypt. The story was based on a single anonymous source but helped to justify Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeping Israeli forces on the Gaza-Egypt border.
According to the IPSO website, the title has been the subject of 13 upheld complaints since the regulator was launched a decade ago.
Why Hadley Freeman, Jonathan Freedland and others have quit the Jewish Chronicle
Hadley Freeman and Jonathan Freedland have both explained why they are quitting the JC. Meanwhile, David Aaronovitch and David Baddiel have also indicated they won’t write for the newspaper again.
Speaking on Radio 4 Today on Monday, Freeman said the decision to delete Elon Perry’s articles was “too little too late”, adding that she and other contributors “felt there had not been editorial standards applied to this journalist because that journalist was adhering to an ideology that was perhaps similar to that of the editorial board. So we resigned.”
Perry has claimed he was “the victim of a witchhunt against me caused by jealousy”.
Freeman said: “I joined the JC a year and a half ago as a monthly columnist because I strongly want there to be a mainstream national Jewish newspaper in this country that represents the plurality of views of Jews in this country.
“Most British Jews believe in a Jewish home state, we believe in a two-state solution and we hope for peace in the Middle East. And what it felt like increasingly was the Jewish Chronicle was representing a more ideological rather than strictly journalistic point of view and was becoming far more right-wing and in-step with Netanyahu which I would think that most British Jews are not.”
The Jewish Chronicle was taken over by a consortium in April 2020 led by Sir Robbie Gibb, who is a non-executive director of the BBC, after it was placed into liquidation by the Kessler Foundation.
The offer to buy the title was described as “very generous” but the source of the funding remains a secret. The plan remains for the secret funders to transfer ownership of the JC to a charitable foundation.
Freedland said continuing secrecy over the paper’s financial backers was one of the reasons he has resigned. He said: “We need to have full transparency in order for there to be accountability.”
Jonathan Freedland has been a columnist for the paper since 1998. Before that his father Michael, who died in 2018, began writing for the title in 1951.
He said: “That bond partly explains why I’ve stuck with it even as it has departed from the traditions that bult its reputation as the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper and, in its own, somewhat quaint words, ‘the organ of British Jewry”.
He said the title had shown only the “thinnest form of contrition” after it published what he said were “fabricated stories”.
And added: “Too often, the JC reads like a partisan, ideological instrument, its judgments political rather than journalistic.”
He added that there is “no real accountability” because of the secrecy around the JC’s ownership.
Editor of the Jewish Chronicle responds to resignations
JC editor Jake Wallis Simons said on Sunday: “Obviously it’s every newspaper editor’s worst nightmare to be deceived by a journalist. The Jewish Chronicle has cut all ties with the freelancer in question and his work has now been removed from our website. Readers can be assured that stronger internal procedures are being implemented.
“I understand why some columnists have decided to step back from the paper. I am grateful for their contributions and hope that, in time, some of them will feel able to return.
“I take full responsibility for the mistakes that have been made and I will take equal responsibility for the task of making sure nothing like this can happen again.”
The statement about Perry posted by the JC last week said: “The Jewish Chronicle has concluded a thorough investigation into freelance journalist Elon Perry, which commenced after allegations were made about aspects of his record. While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims. We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr Perry.
“The Jewish Chronicle maintains the highest journalistic standards in a highly contested information landscape and we deeply regret the chain of events that led to this point. We apologise to our loyal readers and have reviewed our internal processes so that this will not be repeated.”
According to the latest available ABC certificate (for 2023) the Jewish Chronicle has a weekly print/digital edition circulation of just under 16,000 copies and a website audience of just over one million unique users per month.
IPSO faces third call to launch standards investigation into JC
Update (17/9/2024): A group of individuals who have won IPSO adjudications and libel complaints against the Jewish Chronicle today again asked for the press regulator to launch a standards investigation against the title. It is the third time the group has asked IPSO to intervene.
They note that since the group last wrote to IPSO (in September), the Jewish Chronicle has been found to have breached the Editors’ Code two more times. Four further complaints have led to mediated solutions, where the title has either amended or removed inaccurate information.
The group of ten shared the letter on the Twitter account of Joe Bird, who represents the Green Party on Wirral Council and is Jewish. The letter states: “We believe that the Perry case, which is of global and vital significance, should weigh very heavily in IPSO’s considerations. Like almost all of the 40-odd recorded breaches of the IPSO code by the Jewish Chronicle in the last six years, and like those rcen cases labelled as resolved by mediation, this scandal is a failure to take due care over accuracy.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
