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| Why London comes first |
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IF you ever wondered where the priorities of some of the London-based national communal organisations lie, read on. Many are supported financially by our readers in the regions who, rightly, might feel that they deserve to be kept abreast of those organisations' activities. Sadly, that is not the case and, it seems, at least two believe that their priorities lie where they are based - in London.
Take the Holocaust Education Trust (HET), a registered charity. On Thursday last week it co-ordinated an historic visit to Auschwitz by the Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks and a group of other faith leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and an imam. We believed that such a mission deserved Page One coverage and a full report. Throughout press day we held our front page, hoping that one of two professional photographers employed by the HET would transmit a picture to us for publication last week. Not possible, we were told late in the day . . . because there were no such facilities at Birkenau or Auschwitz. Strange that this newspaper twice managed to be produced from the death camp site with no problems using the internet. Then the truth emerged . . . the HET had decided not to release pictures until the following day - after the Jewish Telegraph was already on the newsstands. It took little imagination to realise the reason which became evident on Saturday morning when The Times ran an exclusive report, including an interview with the Chief Rabbi, and picture, its reporter having been invited to participate. As if that were not bad enough, the HET decided that only the London Jewish press should report this historic event - allegedly because Jewish Telegraph reporters had previously visited Auschwitz. What tosh. Sadly our readers will never know what happened on the day. Next to the august Board of Deputies which is subsidised through virtually involuntary levies via synagogue seat rentals. Not for the first time a major statistical report was handed to the London Jewish press whilst we received it about a week later. This had occurred so many times previously that the embarrassed president of the Deputies Henry Grunwald less than two years ago actually invited this newspaper's editor to tour the Board's departments, meet the personnel to ensure that such leaks never occurred again and that the Jewish Telegraph and its readers were treated even-handedly. But nothing changes and again the information reached us so late that it did not appear. Readers consequently did not have access to a vital report. As always, London comes first.
E-MAIL: editor@jewishtelegraph.com
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