Announcement re The Mideast Reporter DBA "Mideast Dig"

A note to readers:

Please be advised that I am no longer associated with The Mideast Reporter (N/K/A "Mideast Dig"), which I co-founded and co-edited from its inception in 2013 until November 2015. I have had no editorial or marketing role in the venture since then.

I had my name removed from the Mideast Reporter's "Masthead"and "About" sections, but it was on marketing and fundraising materials that were widely distributed, as well as public documents and this recent Jerusalem Post article.

I also resigned from the board of directors. Board member Brooke Goldstein, one of two independent directors, resigned in mid-December 2015, leaving two persons on the board of directors, one of whom is the co-founder. The managing editor, Robert J. Rosenberg, resigned in early December 2015, leaving one person (the other co-founder) on the editorial staff.

To fulfill its mission, such a venture must be nonpolitical, avoid advocacy, eschew personal attacks in its media criticism, and reflect multiple viewpoints. Its management needs to devote itself full-time to the project, avoid conflicts of interest and cronyism, and eschew the natural tendency to turn it into a personal platform or "ego trip." Otherwise the venture risks becoming yet another pro-Israel blog, and, by over-promising, perhaps do more harm than good.

(Originally posted December 7, 2015; subsequently revised.)