MEDIA ‘Carta canta’, a Commitment for Pagine Ebraiche

By Ada Treves

There is an expression in Italian, that has a magic musicality and a deep meaning at the same time. “Carta canta” is one of those idioms that are difficult to translate without losing the many layers its specific words imply, so even if “What is spoken flies what is written never dies” gives the sense, literally it should be “Paper sings”.

Paper is the one technology that has permitted the development of humankind in a way unparalleled by other inventions, and as neuroscientist are explaining and underlining more and more the way we read on paper is not the same way we read on a screen, and they affect our brains differently.
Our capability to understand reality relies heavily on the possibility to deepen our knowledge and to discover unforeseen details offered by articles printed on paper, and we also know that the experience of commenting and discussing news we have read “on paper” is not the same as sharing digital content with the speed and ease of a social network.

But the verb “cantare”, to sing, is also used in many other Italian idioms,, and between “ha cantato”, meaning “he has confessed and told all he knows” and “il canto del cigno”, the “swan song”, there is reality: Pagine Ebraiche not only will continue to be printed and distributed – even if in smaller numbers – but it is undergoing a process of growth that will give all its readers a new and better instrument to know and understand the culture and the traditions of the Italian Jewish minority.
“Carta canta”, the slogan chosen by Pagine Ebraiche to present its future and at the same time to ask for the support of its readers, asks for action.

After many years of free monthly presence in every single Jewish household in Italy, the newsroom is working on the development that will make Pagine Ebraiche grow and become more interesting, more punchy and with a stronger dignity, but to obtain all this, a different distribution strategy is needed. The choice, than, is to cover the industrial cost of the newspaper with the subscriptions the readers will be willing to pay, while keeping open and free the digital version of Pagine Ebraiche, Italia Ebraica and DafDaf, not to lose the priceless relationship with all those who have been following us with interest in the past eight years.

To continue on this project of growth we ask all our readers to show their commitment, that for us is not only the price of a yearly subscription, 30 euros, but it is mainly a sign of appreciation, friendship and support.