More than 150 contributors to The New York Times have announced a boycott of the paper’s opinion section, protesting its “clear bias” in its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ongoing war on Gaza.
According to Middle East Eye, the contributors have pledged to stop submitting work to the paper, condemning its editorial stance as favoring the Israeli narrative.
The writers urged the Times to reevaluate its editorial direction and update its style guide on Israel and Palestine. They also called for the US to ban arms exports being used in the war.
In a letter addressed to the Times, they wrote, “Until The New York Times takes responsibility for its biased coverage and commits to telling an honest, ethical story of the US-Israeli war on Gaza, any contribution to its Opinion section amounts to complicity in that neglect.”
“Only by withholding our efforts can we effectively challenge the dominant power the Times wields to whitewash US and Israeli lies.”
Among the signatories are dozens of high-profile activists, artists, and political figures including Rima Hassan, Chelsea Manning, Rashida Tlaib, Sally Rooney, Elia Suleiman, Greta Thunberg, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Dave Zirin.
The letter also stated, “We owe it to Palestinian journalists and writers to refuse complicity with the Times and to demand an explanation for its failures, so it cannot continue justifying mass slaughter, torture, and displacement.”
Other notable signatories include Chris Hedges, Marc Lamont Hill, Noura Erakat, Vijay Prashad, Mariame Kaba, Robin D.G. Kelley, Mohammed El-Kurd, Susan Stryker, Jia Tolentino, Eve L. Ewing, Dean Spade, Nyle Fort, Susan Abulhawa, and Rashid Khalidi.
The writers outlined three key demands for the Times to review and correct anti-Palestinian bias in its reporting, with new editorial standards for Palestinian issues, adopt updated practices in sourcing and quoting to ensure balanced narratives, develop a new style guide for describing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
They also emphasized the need to bar any journalist with service in the Israeli military from working at the paper, arguing that this is the bare minimum for professional neutrality.
The writers concluded, “Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, The New York Times has justified and concealed war crimes, continuing its decades-long role as a platform for the official Israeli and US government narratives.”
