Normally, I would headline this, Why I Hate The Jewish Journal #26.
But editor Rob Eshman has been such a gracious help to me with my book, it would be ungrateful to do this entry Luke Ford style.
Anyway, the cover story of the latest issue is on the threat posed by Iran.
Come on. If it wanted to, the Journal could provide superior coverage of Los Angeles Jewish life. It does not have the resources to provide unique national and international coverage. This cover story does not give anything new on Iran, nothing that I haven't read before in superior publications such as The New York Times.
Now, I understand why the Journal has these delusions of grandeur. It feels so much better to do some national and international cover stories. You feel like you are a big time journalist and a big time editor of a big time paper. But it is a delusion. You have nothing unique to contribute. When editor Rob Eshman and managing editor Amy Klein write about religious, political, national and international issues, I yawn and drop out of their columns after a paragraph or two. Why would I care what they have to say on these matters? They have little more expertise here than I do. I care what Daniel Pipes or some specialist has to say, not some local journeyman journalist who wants to pontificate on Middle East affairs.
When Rob and Amy write about their love life or some other subject they know well, they are interesting.
I am by no means immune to these delusions of grandeur. When I worked for a small AM radio station in Auburn, KAHI 950, I wanted to do stories about international economics (my major at college). But my bosses wouldn't let me get away with that crap. I had to cover city council meetings and the San Francisco 49er summer training camp at Sierra College.
The Journal covers religion fairly, but in a dull pedestrian plodding manner. Latest example: "New Prayer Communities Seek Spiritual High"
Puff pieces on three new minyanim. Not a surprising word. Writer Jane Ulmann doesn't even mention that two of these new minyanim are breakaways from Ohr Ha Torah -- Ikar and Ahavat Torah. An interesting angle, says Larry Yudelson, would be to look at the type of person who stayed and the type of person who broke away. I know someone at Ikar who goes there simply because his friends go there.
Rob Eshman has friends at these new minyanim who could provide interesting insights but to be interesting would be to go outside of the Journal's approach to religion.
