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The Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News are set to go into liquidation

Newspapers that rely heavily on print revenue have been hit particularly badly by the coronavirus as readers avoid the shops - Getty Images Europe/Alex Davidson
Newspapers that rely heavily on print revenue have been hit particularly badly by the coronavirus as readers avoid the shops - Getty Images Europe/Alex Davidson

The Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News are to seek liquidation after their parent company announced it could no longer continue trading because it had reportedly run out of cash.

The weekly London based newspapers yesterday said journalists will try to continue producing content in the two to three weeks before the voluntary liquidation comes into effect.

They are the latest media outlets brought to financial ruin by the huge collapse in print sales and advertising revenue triggered by the onset of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Kessler Foundation, owner of the Jewish Chronicle, said it was “actively working” to secure its future, as The Guardian reported that staff were being made redundant.

A statement on its website read: “With great sadness, the Board of the Jewish Chronicle has taken the decision to seek a creditors voluntary liquidation of Jewish Chronicle Newspapers Ltd.”

“Despite the heroic efforts of the editorial and production team at the newspaper, it has become clear that the Jewish Chronicle will not be able to survive the impact of the current coronavirus epidemic in its current form.”

In February, the Jewish Chronicle- often referred to as the JC- agreed to merge operations with its rival tabloid title Jewish News in an attempt to secure both of their financial futures.

The deal was never finalised, but both sets of staff are understood to be receiving the same termination result following the liquidation announcement.

At the time, the titles had a print run of more than 40,000 copies and half a million weekly online page views, making them the dominant players within Jewish media in the UK.

Founded in 1841, the Jewish Chronicle, which is now edited by Stephen Pollard, is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.

In a famous interview with the newspaper in 1981, the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher described Israel's attack on an Iraqi nuclear plant as a step towards international anarchy.