The American Psychological Association’s Society for Media Psychology & Technology has awarded Jewish Life Television/JLTV its annual News Media Recognition Award. JLTV received this honor in connection with a television special that focuses upon Mental Health and Trauma in Jewish Americans. Narrated and produced by Brad Pomerance and edited by Kevin Wegener, this one-hour program engages in a comprehensive investigation into the mental health of the Jewish population generally, with special emphasis on the mental health of older Jews.

From Jewish enslavement in Egypt to the destruction of the First and Second Temples, from the Crusades and the Black Plague to the European Pogroms, from the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions to the ultimate breach of civilization, the Holocaust, Jews have faced centuries, actually, millennia of oppression. Brad Pomerance said, “Sure, 4,000 years of angst and anxiety may have provided fodder for comedians in the Catskills, but with anti-Semitism on the rise in the United States and around the world, we endeavored to unravel how this torrent of persecution has impacted the mental health of Jews and the impact of this traumatic persecution on successive generations.”

The award-winning episode, which was produced in part with the support of Gerontological Society of America, the Journalists Network on Generations, and the Silver Century Foundation, can be viewed on demand. Prior winners of the Society’s News Media Recognition Award include Ronan Farrow (The New Yorker), Stephanie Lee (Buzzfeed) and Jesse Singal (New York Magazine).

The Society for Media Psychology and Technology seeks to advance psychology in the practice and science of media communications and technology in all forms of traditional and evolving media and emerging technologies. The society supports the study and dissemination of information related to the impact of the media on human behavior, as well as the development of media literacy for both the public and psychology professionals.

The Society’s News Media, Public Education and Public Policy Committee promotes excellence in the dissemination of psychological information and research via the news media, particularly as it relates to social issues. One means is naming a recipient of the News Media Recognition Award for excellence in the reporting of psychological information and research.

Jewish Life Television is North America’s premiere 24-7 Jewish-themed television network, available in over 45 million homes through DirecTV, Comcast, Spectrum, Bell, and other video providers.

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