Jewish News One (JN1), the first ever 24-hour global Jewish television, dubbed a ‘Jewish Al Jazeera’, started broadcasting in English on Thursday.
"We are on air, JN1 began international broadcasting,” announced producer Peter Dickenson at a launch and presentation event in Brussels.
At the same time, Vadim Rabinovitch, Vice-President of the European Jewish Union (EJU), an organization dedicated to promoting Jewish life in Europe, symbolically released dozens of balloons bearing the channel logo in the sky to mark what he called “an historic day.”
Rabinovych is the JN1's co-owner with Igor Kolomoisky, the EJU President.
JN1, which is broadcast via satellite, cable network and internet, to Europe, North America and the Middle East, ambitions to present news from a Jewish perspective, said Alexander Zanzer, head of the Brussels bureau.
"We plan to move forward with further languages including French, Hebrew, Italian, Russian and German," Dickinson said.
He said that the launch of the channel is part of the revolution in the international news industry that started with CNN, BBC World Service and later with France 24 or Russia Today.
JN1 presents itself as a fully independent worldwide news channel which is not tied to any nation, government or political party.
"We’ll broadcast everything that is newsworthy: general news, economic, cultural and educational topics," Zanzer said.
The channel has currently offices in Brussels, Tel Aviv and Kiev and plans to expand its presence to Berlin, Moscow, Paris, Washington and London.