UK’s two main Jewish papers announce liquidation, but also talk of future hopes

Britain’s two major Jewish publications — the Jewish Chronicle and the Jewish News — have simultaneously announced that they are going into liquidation. However, both the titles, which had previously announced a planned merger, are indicating that they will seek to continue to publish in some form in the future.

For now, their staff have been made redundant, and sources at the Jewish Chronicle told the Guardian that staff were informed the parent company had run out of cash and could not continue trading.

Separate similar statements on both the newspapers’ websites say they will not be able to continue to function in their existing forms, and therefore have taken the decision to “seek a creditors voluntary liquidation.”

Both publications say they will do their best to continue to publish in their current forms for the next two or three weeks, and to update their websites.

After that, they say, they will be working “to secure a future… after the liquidation.”

The Jewish Chronicle is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world, having been founded in 1841.

The Jewish News, a Times of Israel partner, is a free newspaper established in 1997.

In February, the two titles announced “ambitious plans to merge their businesses to create one of the world’s leading community media brands.”

“The merger has been agreed in principle between the Jewish Chronicle’s owners, the Kessler Foundation, and the owners of the Jewish News, the Noé family,” they said at the time. However, they cautioned, “completion and the signing of a legal agreement is still dependent on necessary funds being raised to support the move.”