Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) is a news agency and wire service that primarily covers Jewish and Israel-related topics and news. While officially nonpartisan, compared to its much larger and older competitor the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, JNS is considered to be more conservative and hawkish.
The wire service was launched in September 2011 with an exclusive U.S. distribution deal with free Israeli daily Israel Hayom. It is published by Russel Pergament and Joshua Katzen. Its editor-in-chief is American journalist Jonathan S. Tobin[1]
By 2013, JNS was growing quicker, which left-leaning Jewish newspaper The Forward crediting JNS's pro-Israel perspective and cheaper price point compared to its much larger and older competitor, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), which is considered the "Associated Press of Jewish media". The wire employed five staff members. Approximately 40 new outlets used JNS, compared to 88 outlets using JTA. Subscribers to JNS paid between $400 to $700 per month, with the first year free, for access to the wire service.[1] In 2015, JNS had between 40 and 55 newspapers, with a third in the free trial period.[2]
The editor-in-chief until 2016 was Jacob Kamaras.[3]
In 2020 his" largest single donor is the Republican Sheldon Adelson", a "right-wing patron who expects to see his investments reflect his politics"[4]
In 2015, The Forward described JNS as focusing heavily on Israeli security threats. Frequent columnists Ben Cohen and Stephen M. Flatow wrote often against the Iran Nuclear Deal and the Obama administration more generally, and the JNS board included Middle East Forum president and pro-Israel hawk Daniel Pipes and neoconservative Harvard professor Ruth Wisse.[2]
JNS's publisher Russel Pergament described the wire service as a "nonpartisan, objective, straight down the middle newswire with no axe to grind except one: to see that Israel gets a fair shake in the news."[1] "There are some editors who do not want to upset their readers so they’ll publish a JNS news brief about someone in Israel inventing a new flavor of ice cream, but they won’t run anything that’s kind of scary," he told the Jewish Press.[5]
JNS has been described as conservative,[6] right-leaning,[1] and more hawkish than the JTA. According to Rick Kestenbaum of the American Jewish Press Association, editors of Jewish media outlets are aware of JNS's ideology and difference from JTA.[2]
The Adelson Foundation was revealed in 2015 to be the largest single funder of JNS.[2][7][8] Between 2013 and 2015, the Adelson Foundation had contributed over $1.2 million.[2][9] In 2015, Adam Milstein donated $12,500.[10]
