Less is more, or less is less

“Less is more” is usually attributed to the famed architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who advocated for simplicity in architecture. I’m a big fan of the concept, of keeping things clear and simple. I think it should apply to many things that we do at the Chronicle, including many of our news articles, and yes, including this fundraising pitch.

However, it shouldn’t apply to everything at the Chronicle. For example, some news articles and opinion pieces can’t be made too simple because the facts and the issues are too complicated and nuanced. They take time to research, write and edit. Even more so, it shouldn’t be applied to the Chronicle itself. When it comes to the Chronicle overall, less is less. Many of you tell us that we provide a vital role in the community, presenting news and information that you need to be an engaged member of the Pittsburgh Jewish community — news and information that, in many cases, no one else provides, and certainly not with the skills and perspectives of professional journalists from within our community. Our community is rich, with vibrant individuals and organizations, good news to share, and yes, bad news that people need to know. And no, what the algorithms show you on social media from who-knows-what-source isn’t a substitute for the quality journalism that we provide.

It takes resources — people and money — to do this work every day. Doing journalism is less expensive than providing services that require buildings, but it still requires funds, a need that grows as the internet continues to eat away at reliable journalism and inflation stubbornly persists. While we’re pleased to see our advertising revenue grow despite industry trends, we rely heavily on the support of you, our readers and fellow community members.

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So overall, for the Chronicle less is less. The more you support us, the more we can provide you the news and information you want, wherever and whenever you want it. Conversely the less you support us, the less we can cover important stories and the less we can distribute the news in the ways that you want it.

We’re not only pleased that so many in our community recognize our value, but also that we are appreciated outside of our community. This year Press Forward, a new national organization to support local journalism, selected the Chronicle as the only Jewish news publisher in the country to receive one of its inaugural grants. In 2022 the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania gave the Chronicle its Service to Journalism award, and in 2020 the Maimonides Fund selected us as one of a handful of Jewish news publishers to participate in its inaugural Jewish Journalism Fellowship. In addition, every year we win awards from the American Jewish Press Association and the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania.

Once again, we ask for your generous support. You count on us to bring you Jewish Pittsburgh, and we count on you — our readers, our supporters, our fellow community members — to help provide us with the resources we need to continue to serve you every day online and every week in print.

Looking around the country, we see that Jewish communities that support their local Jewish newspaper generously have a quality local news product, while those that don’t support their Jewish newspaper have either a very poor one or none at all. Less is less.

Although some of you have generously made contributions this year, this is our first and only campaign for 2024. We ask you to help maintain award-winning, critical news and information about and for the Pittsburgh Jewish community with your contribution.

Thank you for reading, caring and doing what you can to help. Less is less, but more is more. PJC

Jim Busis is publisher and CEO of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.