NEW YORK — The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) and MyJewishLearning (MJL) announced their intention to merge the two organizations.
The combination will bring together two strong, growing and respected nonprofit media organizations dedicated to providing readers with news, information, content and interaction on Judaism and Jewish topics, without political bias or denominational bent.
The planned merger will allow the two organizations to increase revenues and grow readership through the formation of unified and expanded audience development, business development and fundraising teams. With more resources and greater reach, the combined entity will be able to expand and improve content and services to existing clients, readers and communities, and create new content and distribution mechanisms for engaging new readers.
The organizations’ boards have spent several months exploring the merger and are signing a non-binding letter of intent to move forward. JTA’s CEO and editor in chief, Ami Eden, will be CEO and executive editor of the combined organization; Meredith Lewis, the director of operations of MyJewishLearning, will be the new organization’s chief operating officer.
The new organization is committed to maintaining and growing the two organizations’ existing brands, which include JTA, Kveller, MJL and Jewniverse, as well as creating new brands and content to serve the diverse Jewish community.
JTA and MJL plan to execute a definitive merger agreement later this year, when additional details about the new organization will be announced.
Founded in 1917, JTA is an international news agency that for nearly a century has been covering developments impacting Jews and Jewish communities in North America, Israel and countries around the world. The JTA website now features an archive of more than 250,000 JTA articles dating back to 1923 that are searchable by keyword or date. It is a unique resource, particularly for scholars and students, providing easy access to real-time historical coverage of the Holocaust, the creation of the State of Israel, the Israeli-Arab conflict, the changing role of women, evolving religious practices and other developments in modern Jewish life.
The JTA website attracts about 300,000 unique visitors per month. In addition, JTA reaches millions more through its syndication services to nearly 80 Jewish and Israeli newspapers and websites.
Founded in 2002, MyJewishLearning, Inc. leverages the Internet and other new media to spread knowledge of Jewish religion, history, values, traditions and culture in a manner that is meaningful and accessible to people of all backgrounds, empowering them to navigate Jewish life with confidence and creativity. MJL properties reach more than 650,000 aggregate unique visitors a month.
The organization currently publishes two major websites, MyJewishLearning.com, the most robust and highly trafficked transdenominational Jewish educational website, and Kveller.com, a Jewish parenting website and vibrant online community. MJL also publishes TheJewniverse.com, a spinoff of its popular daily email.
