Trio of Appointments for a Jewish News Agency

By: E&P Staff JTA, the Jewish news agency, has made three senior staff appointments.

Ami Eden, former executive editor of the Forward, has started work as managing editor. Uriel Heilman, a former JTA staffer, is returning as associate editor next month. And Daniel Sieradski, founder of Jewschool.com, is now director of digital media.

Eden, 34, was also a founding editor of the Forward's Web site. He previously worked as an editor of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia, and has also written for media outlets such as The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the International Herald Tribune, Ha'aretz, and Beliefnet.com. His primary role at JTA will be to coordinate the agency's North American coverage and reporting staff.

"We will build on JTA's excellent reporting on identity, religion and philanthropy; expand coverage of Capitol Hill and the 2008 election; and begin taking a serious look at the world of arts and culture," Eden said in statement.

Heilman, 32, previously worked for JTA as news editor and staff writer. He has also been the Jerusalem Post's New York bureau chief, and spent the past two years doing independent reporting in Israel and the Arab world. His primary responsibility will be coordinating JTA's worldwide network of foreign correspondents based in cities such as Jerusalem, Paris, Prague, and Buenos Aires.

Sieradski, 28, who's considered an innovator in Jewish new media, will work on expanding the JTA.org site and the news agency's e-mail and wireless products. Prior to joining JTA, he was a freelance journalist and Webmaster for Jewish publications and non-profit Jewish organizations.