Opinions are important in what we do at the Crescent City Jewish News. We try to not advocate for liberal over conservative values or Orthodox over Reform faith practice in our many different news perspectives. It is our opinion that a well-rounded, open-minded approach to politics, religion, the arts and news gives our readership the advantage to decide for themselves what they believe is right for them.<\/p>\n
These days one can issue an opinion in about the time it takes to hit the send button on an email or respond with comments on popular social media like Facebook or Twitter. Indeed, recognizing the importance of a strong connection to our audience, we frequently use Facebook and, occasionally Twitter, to disseminate items of interest to our subscribers. An article that is published and prominent on Monday, for instance, may be buried under a flurry of news items and not readily seen by Tuesday evening. Unless we send out occasional updates, many of our occasional readers won’t know the stories we ran. Of course, savvy users of our site will click under major headings like Features, Local News, National News, International News and Opinions to determine what has been recently published.<\/p>\n
But there is an important distinction between these social media and the CCJN to consider. We are a news medium or a portal for news and opinions. While we allow our readers to email or share our articles over their own social media, we are not in the business to pander to either the left or the right. Should we publish an article or opinion that seems biased towards one side or the other, we frequently try to follow up with an opposite point of view to give balanced coverage to a given topic.<\/p>\n
We admit, though, we cannot be completely and totally impartial in the presentation of news and opinions. We believe we succeed many more times than we fail in the process, but there is nothing perfect about it. It is a battle we wage on a daily basis and we hope to continue to earn your respect and loyalty as we sort through issues and articles of interest to our readership.<\/p>\n
One of our featured items is the weekly Feintooner Cartoon. This past week, we published one of his political cartoons that generated two negative reactions on our Facebook page. While we have published more than 150 Feintooner cartoons in the past, this was the first one to elicit any<\/em> negative pushback whatsoever.<\/p>\nPerhaps, because it centered on presidential campaign politics, there was more sensitivity than in the past. But it really doesn’t matter.<\/p>\n
Responding to the readers on Facebook, we informed them there is no hidden political agenda on the part of the CCJN. The Feintooner Cartoon is the copyrighted material and intellectual property of Feintooner. It does not represent the editorial policy or opinion of the CCJN, but is published as a service to our readers.<\/p>\n
While Feintooner does espouse more conservative values and is highly supportive of Israel, we don’t believe he goes over the line. On one occasion more than three years ago, we refused to run a specific Feintooner Cartoon because we believed its depiction of bloody, decapitated figures was out of bounds. The CCJN regards such odious renderings as improper and also will not tolerate images we believe are libelous as fit for publication.<\/p>\n
However, just because we are in an election year, the CCJN will not alter its position and pander to either the liberal left or the conservative right in politics or religion.<\/p>\n
As Feintooner himself admitted: “The role of the political cartoonist is to strike a nerve. The alternative is silence , or in this case, invisibility.”<\/p>\n
Should he strike a nerve in the future, we will continue to offer an opportunity for our readers to publish their opinions in opposition in our Letters to the Editor or Opinions categories.<\/p>\n
But please do not conflate the CCJN with Facebook or Twitter. We are a news publication and they are social media, fraught with uncorroborated or unsubstantiated (some would say “fake”) news that tend to represent very extreme positions.<\/p>\n
We are not Yelp. Well-informed opinions count and will be published, as per our editorial policy. But we don’t need to be reviewed by our readership, especially along party lines. The true test of our worth is found in the hundreds of faithful and loyal readers from across the entire political and religious spectrum who come to our site for their news and appreciate what we do.<\/p>\n
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