Israel's Jerusalem Post: Bret Stephens Out, David Horovitz In
Professionalism
returns to The Jerusalem Post.
New editor-in-chief, David Horovitz.
By
Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem-----September
8......A fresh, clean and powerful breeze can now be felt throughout
Israel. Clouds have parted and a strong, cheerful sun is casting light.
Present and former journalists of the Jerusalem Post have gone
out to buy wine to celebrate the news. The Jerusalem Post announced
on September 5 that David Horovitz is going to replace Bret Stephens
as editor-in-chief as of October.
I knew that Bret Stephens was going to be replaced when I first met
him at the Jerusalem Post building over a year ago.
I have
also heard the adage: "don't kiss and tell" and my father
once told me "don't ever bad mouth anyone you ever worked with."
And we all know that cops don't rat on cops and journalists don't bash
journalists. It's a standing rule for which I am now breaking. As a
"disgruntled former employee" I can talk, my colleagues at
the Post cannot - due to fear. Fear of being fired and a clause in their
Israeli contracts which states that they are not allowed to speak to
the media.
First off, has anyone seen any Israeli newspapers columns regarding the changing of the guard at the Post. Second, look at the letters which have come into the Post regarding this topic - not one negative word regarding Bret Stephens or Tom Rose is allowed to appear on-line, it's all how "good" he was and how he will be missed.
The
Post in a finely worded, sterile public relations news release
stated that Stephens, who has been editor since March 2002, was leaving
the Post in order to join the editorial board of The Wall
Street Journal in New York.
How is it that the Wall Street Journal was looking into the small, twisting stone lined streets of ancient Jerusalem for a member of its editorial board. So is it that Stephens resigned or was fired?
A better
question would be how did Stephens at the age of 28 with no experience
in Israel or the Middle-East become the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem
Post? Was this a cover for a CIA agent or the results of unknown dealings
by the infamous and corrupt former publishers of the Jerusalem Post
- Conrad Black and F. David Radler?
A group of five Hollinger Inc. investors yesterday filed a statement of claim in Ontario and Saskatchewan against Black and his coterie within his Toronto holding company Hollinger Inc.
In the 110-page statement of claim, Black is accused of pillaging the publisher's coffers to finance his lavish lifestyle.
"Lord Black and his acolytes surreptitiously pocketed millions of dollars generated from sales of Hollinger assets - money that belonged to Hollinger - without disclosure to the shareholders," the court document says.
The lawsuit contends that Hollinger shareholders have been left to finance Black's "21,000-square-foot beachfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida; four-storey home in London's exclusive Kensington enclave, a Toronto mansion complete with a domed roof modelled on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome with a chapel consecrated by Toronto's Roman Catholic archbishop and a 12-acre estate; and multimillion dollar Park Avenue apartment."
Black has also used company money to pay for his 1945 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith and used a company-owned Gulfstream IV jet for his private travel, the lawsuit alleges.
Former U.S. Secretary of state Henry Kissinger, and former U.S. defense department adviser Richard Perle are also named as defendants, as is David Radler, Black's second-in-command.
The allegations against Black haven't been proven in court.
Black has been under attack for months since Hollinger International Inc. in November accused him and his closest allies of accepting undisclosed, unauthorized payments from the company. A special committee hired by the Chicago-based publisher last week alleged Black looted $400 million (U.S.) from Hollinger International.
Advised by a former commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the committee said Black looted from the company through excessive management fees, backdated securities filings and sham payments.
Hollinger International Inc., its auditor and current and former directors already face three class-action lawsuits related to Black's alleged skullduggery.
In April, the Washington Area Carpenters Pension and Retirement Fund, a Washington, D.C. pension fund, sued Hollinger International alleging that shareholders were hurt by Black, his second-in-command David Radler and Black's other allies within the company, publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and Jerusalem Post.
Hollinger International, which Black controls through Toronto-based Hollinger Inc., also faces lawsuits from the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana and Kenneth Mozingo, whose lawsuit seeks to represent Hollinger International shareholders who bought stock from 1999-2003.
The Canadian class-action suit is the first to name Barbara Amiel Black as a defendant.
"Lady Black signed many of the company's false and misleading SEC filings," court documents say.
Hollinger International reported last week that its former CEO Conrad Black (below, at a costume party with wife Barbara) and other executives took more than $400 million from the company. Black denies the allegations. But the excesses noted in the report, including those cited here, should interest the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has launched its own investigation into the company.
The corruption included lavish Galas - the company footed the bills for Barbara Black's birthday party ($42,870), for "summer drinks" ($24,050) and for dinners with board director Henry Kissinger ($28,480).
Hefty salaries were mandatory under Black and his executives earning more than $218 million in "management fees." In one case, Black's wife was paid $1.1 million for "little, if any, work."
Black had Hollinger "pay $8.9 million to acquire F.D.R. papers and memorabilia without board approval." He was writing a biography of Roosevelt at the time.
The Blacks "swapped" their flat for one that Hollinger owned in the same building, diverting "a $2.5 million value from Hollinger to Black." The Jet-Setters - from 2000 to 2003, the report says, the company spent $23.7 million on two jets used "extensively for personal purposes".
Meanwhile back at the Jerusalem Post we struggled to stay on-line with our Internet edition as one computer kept crashing because Post management would not authorize spending a 35 dollar memory card. And the very paper itself was literally cut from it's normal and established tabloid size to a tiny and irrelevant newsletter format. Don't fix what is not broken, but if the Post could save a few dollars from eliminating paper so that Conrad Black could maintain his four elegant homes, so be it.
Yesterday, a journalist from the States called me in Israel and wanted some background regarding the Tom Rose and Bret Stephens era. At first, I did not want to engage in gossip. But this was not gossip, the former management of the Post was directly responsible for the firings of dozens of the best, the most professional, the most talented and creative staff who ever entered that building. Families suffered as a result of a journalist being left unemployed. Lastly was the image of Israel, how these political dismissals affected how the world saw us.
A
few survivors, I would call them "stars" remain at Israel's
Jerusalem Post. They would include Avi Golan, Managing Director,
Caroline Glick, Deputy Managing Editor, Steve Linde, Night Editor, Saul
Singer, Editorial Page Editor and Ruthie Blum, the Jerusalem Post Features
Editor.
I mention "political dismissals" for that is exactly what
they were. Journalists at the Post were hardly ever let go as a result
of using bad English. If you were a friend of Tom Rose you were not
a friend of Bret Stephens and vice-versa. This fierce, intense in-house
war created an environment of fear, mistrust and paralyzed almost all
of the creative juice. A turf war, unmanaged and ignored by Bret Stephens,
also broke out between the Internet department and the print reporters,
I and my former boss got caught in the cross-fire. The words "team
work" got lost under Bret Stephens. I still have an e-mail illustrating
the height of arrogance as Stephens stated to another Post editor, "I
don't care what you think, it's important only what I think."
Bret Stephens always placed the accent on features and editorials, as hard news took a back seat. He lacked a total understanding on how to manage breaking news let alone know who the major players were.
Stephens, who could not speak, read or write Hebrew. Stephens who had no management experience at a newspaper. Stephens who proudly admitted that the Post was now being written for the US market and not for Israel. Stephens who never spent one day in the Israel Defense Forces. Stephens failed the Post, its readers and the State of Israel. But what does he care, he will be back living and working in New York in less than one month.
I will never forget two editorials that Stephens wrote. One complained about how on his way to interview the head of the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Office he got lost in the Kirya (IDF HQ). Stephens blamed the IDF for this. I blame Stephens for not being able to read the Hebrew signs, for not understanding conversations taking place in the local supermarket or on Israeli TV news. One former Post editor, Allison Kaplan Sommer, had this to say: "Memo to Bret Stephens: You live in Israel. You run an Israeli newspaper. The thing is, he tends to forget.
"Otherwise, what can explain the Jerusalem Post Editor-In-Chief's decision to make Paul Wolfowitz the newspaper's Man of the Year? Inside sources tell me that members of his own staff (actual Israeli ones) think this was a totally wacky choice. Listen, it's totally cool if Bret likes to spend his time writing about being a neocon, defending neocon ideas, paying homage to neocons icons like Wolfowitz,explaining why he is a Clinton-hater; noting that the sight of the former president made him "want to puke."
"Lots of people will endorse his views strongly, lots of people will passionately disagree with him...in the United States!"
"We've got bigger problems around here in Israel, in case he hasn't noticed. Maybe it's time for him to head back to the Wall Street Journal, huh?"
"In case there are people out there thinking that this is just a bitter ex-employee ranting, let me say a few nice things about the Post. I'm really glad military correspondent Arieh O'Sullivan is back The debut issue of the revamped print edition of the newspaper on Friday was a huge improvement, and the best issue of the Post I've seen in ages. We'll see if it can maintain that quality.
There are still some excellent columnists writing for the Post, like Hillel Halkin and Yossi Klein HaLevi."
Sommer concludes: "I can't really blame Bret for hanging on to his job, despite his obvious disinterest in Israeli politics. The nausea he gets from Clinton aside (his wife is pregnant, maybe it's just sympathetic morning sickness...) he did get to attend the party of the year for Peres - though considering how he feels about Peres and Clinton, I don't know why. And does sound like he gets to go on some pretty neat field trips, too. And if he puts up with the paper's rather - ahem - volatile publisher, he must really still want to work there."
The second editorial was one that Stephens had composed from Jordan when he was attending a global economic conference and stated to his worldwide audience that his best interviews came from the "Men's Room." Was this behind the toilet reporting or were we just washing our hands?
I cannot think of one person who was "happy" at the Post.
Now
enter David Horovitz.
First, he writes his last name as Israelis would pronounce it - with
a v and not a w.
Horovitz, who moved to Israel from Britain in 1983, was appointed by
Gordon Paris, Hollinger's acting CEO. Paris is also the person who decided
to dismiss the Post's publisher, Tom Rose, a few months ago. Horovitz
said that he agreed to accept the job only after being promised complete
editorial freedom.
Horovitz, 42, is returning to the Post having worked for the paper in Israel from 1983-1990. Since then he has worked at The Jerusalem Report, serving as editor-in-chief and publisher for the past three years. He is also the author of two books, "Still Life with Bombers" and "A Little Too Close to God," and editor of "Shalom, Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin."
In the Post news release Horovitz states: "The Jerusalem Post is the most important name in daily English-language journalism in Israel and Jewish journalism worldwide, I also wish it (Post) to be a forum for tolerant and constructive discussion of how best to guarantee the well-being of Israel and the Jewish people.
David Horovitz is a journalist's journalist. He was sincere and meant every word he said in the above news release. He is an Israeli and he is a Zionist. Some are wary of David as takes command at the Post for he had worked for the left-wing Haaretz newspaper. But I can tell you that David Horovitz is very much of a moderate, one who can view all of the facts in an objective manner and express these facts in a style which will not hurt this beautiful and democratic nation. If you were lucky enough to hear David being interviewed by CNN, SKY or the BBC in the past few years you will automatically understand the quality of substance and articulation that he will bring back to the Jerusalem Post.
Horovitz
will replace fear with creativity, substitute ego centric, turf obsessed
editors and reporters with the word "team".
Most importantly, David will bring the words "pride", "respect"
and "professionalism" back to the Jerusalem Post.