About The Jewish Independent

The Jewish Independent

Overview

The Jewish Independent is an independent, not-for-profit Australian Jewish news and ideas platform headquartered in Sydney. It publishes news, analysis, opinion and multimedia content about Jewish life in Australia, Israel and the wider Jewish world, with an editorial emphasis on respectful debate and a diversity of views within the Jewish community. The platform was launched in 2024, when the established Australian Jewish outlet Plus61J Media was relaunched under the new name, and it combines a news website with a regular email publication, a podcast, video and film work, research projects and public events.

The Jewish Independent is founded and published by Uri Windt, and its editor is Deborah Stone, a journalist who formerly edited the Australian Jewish News. It is not affiliated with the Australian Jewish News or with any communal organisation, and it positions itself as a space for reporting and discussion that goes beyond slogans and stereotypes, in the words of its editor at launch.

History

The Jewish Independent grows out of Plus61J Media, an outlet established in 2015 to broaden the conversation in the Australian Jewish community. Over the following decade Plus61J built a record in digital journalism, video storytelling, research and live events. In 2021 it published Crossroads21, a national survey-based study of Australian attitudes to Jewish people, antisemitism and Israel, drawn from a probability-recruited panel of Australian adults. Its live programming in the same period included public conversations such as a Plus61J panel on how antisemitism should be defined, featuring UCLA Israel studies professor Dov Waxman and Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council figure Jeremy Jones, hosted by Stone. In 2020 it launched the Colin Tatz Oration, an annual event honouring the legacy of Emeritus Professor Colin Tatz AO, the scholar and activist known for his work combating racism and discrimination; the 2024 oration was delivered by Mark Dreyfus KC MP.

Plus61J's video work won the NSW Premier's Multicultural Communications Award for Best Audio Visual Report in 2022, for the three-part series Covid Courage: Stories of Sydney Jewry, and again in 2023, for From their Perspective: Palestinian Citizens of Israel. Its articles were referenced by international Jewish publications including The Forward and the Atlanta Jewish Times.

In 2024, in the wake of the 7 October 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel and rising antisemitism in Australia and internationally, Plus61J was relaunched as The Jewish Independent. The new brand, developed with Sydney creative team Your Creative Agency under creative director James Lim, followed an extensive qualitative research phase and was intended to take the publication's journalism to a wider audience in a range of formats. Launch coverage in AdNews and Mumbrella described a not-for-profit platform aiming to promote intelligent and rational discussion about Israel and the Jewish world. Former Fairfax editor Michael Gawenda, a contributor, said the platform published a wide range of views with fairness and integrity.

Programming and Content

The Jewish Independent publishes news and analysis on the issues shaping Australian Jewish life: antisemitism and social cohesion, community affairs, education, culture, and Australian and international politics as they affect the community, alongside coverage of Israel and the Middle East. Its reporting is frequently cited by other bodies; the Online Hate Prevention Institute noted in October 2026 that the publication had recently reported on its study of online antisemitism since the October 7 attacks, and a submission to the 2026 Royal Commission into antisemitism cited editor Deborah Stone's February 2026 analysis of the Australian Human Rights Commission's report on antisemitism at universities. A news report by the publication on the December 2025 Bondi attack commemorations — recording how air traffic was stopped to enable a tribute to a Bondi victim — was cited in Kesher, the journal of the Association of Jewish Psychologists, in June 2026. Its news coverage has also reported research finding nearly a quarter of surveyed public-school teachers had experienced, witnessed or been informed of an antisemitic incident, and its January 2026 email editions covered the announcement of the antisemitism Royal Commission and the preservation of the Bondi memorial.

Opinion and debate are central to the format. The platform's email editions through early 2026 carried explainers and question-and-answer coverage of the antisemitism Royal Commission, discussion of the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and a debate series about anti-Zionist Jews, alongside cultural content such as Stone's contemporary readings of the Passover Seder. Contributors have included former Fairfax editor Michael Gawenda and writer Michael Visontay.

Beyond text, the platform launched the podcast Ashamed to Admit in 2024, and in the same year produced the film Pita with Vegemite: An Israeli Australian Story, which premiered at the Ritz Cinema in Randwick as part of the Jewish International Film Festival. Its events program has included a September 2024 Sydney forum with the New Israel Fund assessing the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court in relation to the Israel–Gaza war, sponsorship of the inaugural Young Jewish Writers Award within the Shalom Australian Jewish Book Awards in 2024, involvement with Limmud Oz, and March 2026 public conversations with British journalist Jonathan Freedland moderated by Michaela Kalowski.

Audience and Reach

The Jewish Independent serves the Australian Jewish community — centred on Sydney and Melbourne — and a broader readership interested in Jewish affairs, Israel and multicultural Australia. Its predecessor made its original content available for republication under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence, and its journalism has been acknowledged or referenced by the Australian Jewish News, Neos Kosmos, The Forward and the Atlanta Jewish Times, as well as by research bodies and a Royal Commission submission.

The platform does not publish audited audience figures, and none are claimed here. Its reach is best indicated by the regularity of its publishing — its email archive records editions running through 2025 and into March 2026, and its website was publishing new articles in October 2026 — and by the uptake of its reporting and events by communal, academic and media organisations.

Digital Presence

The publication's home is its website, thejewishindependent.com.au, which carries its news, analysis, opinion and multimedia. It is supported by a regular email publication — described at launch as a bi-weekly e-publication — whose archived editions through 2025 and early 2026 covered topics from the Royal Commission into antisemitism to Passover and community events, and by the Ashamed to Admit podcast, distributed through podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts. Its video series and film work extend the brand to screen, and its stories circulate through social media and republication by other outlets.

Ownership and Organisation

The Jewish Independent is a not-for-profit media platform. It was founded and is published by Uri Windt, and it operates with a small editorial team led by editor Deborah Stone, a journalist and communications consultant who is a former editor of the Australian Jewish News. The platform's brand and website were created in collaboration with Your Creative Agency, whose managing director Lauren Crystal described the project as rethinking what a media platform can be for its community. It is headquartered in Sydney and is the successor organisation to Plus61J Media, whose programs — including the Colin Tatz Oration — continue under the new name.

Contact and Availability

The Jewish Independent is based in Sydney and publishes online at thejewishindependent.com.au, where readers can subscribe to its email publication and find details of its podcasts, films and public events, which are held in Sydney and other Australian cities. New content appears on the website throughout the week, with email editions distributed regularly to subscribers.