Jewish Forward editor admits initial presentation of influential Jew list was 'confusing

Over the past few days, the Blaze has been in a back and forth editorial "dialogue" with the Jewish Forward, a newspaper based here in New York City.

Last Friday, I initially covered the newspaper's "Forward 50," a listing of the year's most influential and notable American Jews. Naturally, I focused upon the very odd inclusion of President Barack Obama (you can read more about this here). Later in the day on Friday, the Forward's editor, Jane Eisner, responded to my coverage, writing:

...what interested The Blaze wasn’t the list of 50 American Jews who have shaped the Jewish story in politics, science, culture, the media, religion, advocacy and even sports. No, it was the 51st name on the list — in our parlance, the “Plus One” — that got the attention.

The Blaze kindly responded in a separate article, noting that we had been sent a pitch about the president's inclusion by the Forward's PR people and highlighting the fact that Obama was not initially labeled as a "Plus One." In the original "Forward 50" layout, he was clumped in with the Jewish individuals who had been selected for the honor. You can read all of the details here.

On Monday night, Eisner wrote yet another response, admitting that the original layout was, indeed, confusing and that Obama, as we noted, was not labeled a "Plus One" originally. See, the Blaze had screen shots and graphics that corroborated the confusion we had encountered upon initially seeing this year's layout. Eisner wrote:

It’s not every day that The Blaze, Glenn Beck’s website, responds to this blog, and I’m glad they did. In our latest back and forth, the editor pointed out that our presentation on our website of this year’s Forward 50 was confusing at first.

Fair enough. It was. [...]

If you read the blurb about Barack Obama, you would know why he was placed where he was, but in fairness, we didn’t highlight that he was, in our parlance, a Plus One.

Honestly, I’m not sure whether it was The Blaze’s reaction, or just our own analysis when looking at the site on Friday, but we did, indeed, make the change.

So, case closed. My point is proven and I appreciate Eisner's response. Now, if you're interested in checking out the very fascinating list of 50 influential American Jews, you may do so here.