MONTREAL (JTA)—The Canadian Jewish News will take a third stab at reviving itself after announcing it was closing in 2013, and then again in April.
The leadership of Canada’s 60-year-old flagship national Jewish newspaper confirmed Monday that it will attempt a revival next month, according to a report in the Canadian Jewish Record, a free online volunteer Jewish news website launched in May to fill the void left by The CJN’s absence.
The resurrected CJN will be online only and seek to attract a younger generation of readers through an array of products, including podcasts, electronic newsletters, occasional print magazines, and a new focus on advertising and fundraising made possible by the publication’s new tax-exempt status.
“While we have big plans, we’re not busting out of the gate in the first week of January,” Bryan Borzykowski, president of The CJN’s new board of directors, told the Record.“We’re thinking of ourselves as a start-up in a way, with a more nimble and entrepreneurial staff.”
Canada’s nearly 400,000 Jews were left without a national publication after The CJN folded, supposedly for good, in April due to declining revenues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CJN first announced it was closing in 2013, but the paper was saved some months later by a groundswell of community support.
The revived CJN will remain under the stewardship of editor Yoni Goldstein, hired in 2014. The newspaper’s closure eight months ago “has shown just how much Canadian Jews miss The CJN,” Goldstein told The Record. “I’m looking forward to reviving the connection and building lots of new ones.
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