About 200 people tuned in to an online conversation Wednesday featuring J. editor Sue Fishkoff. “Jewish Journalism in the Coronavirus Crisis” was organized by the Forward and featured journalists and communal leaders concerned about the future of Jewish publications.

What does the future hold for community newspapers in general? How is the unprecedented coronavirus crisis affecting Jewish organizations, including newspapers, financially? Exactly how important is Jewish journalism during a time of crisis?

“We’re public servants,” Fishkoff said. “I think that Jewish publications, particularly Jewish community publications, should exist as long as their communities want them.” That said, she raised the idea of a national funding pot to keep Jewish media outlets alive in communities that can no longer afford them.

Fishkoff was joined by Forward editor Jodi Rudoren, who moderated the discussion; Andrés Spokoiny, president of the Jewish Funders Network; Ben Smith, media columnist for the New York Times; and professor Jonathan Sarna of Brandeis University.