NYT sued over ‘anti-Israel bias’ by Florida pension fund, conservative think tank

The shareholder organizations want company records showing how the paper handled coverage of Israel and whistleblower complaints of bias.MANHATTAN (CN) — A pair of shareholder groups of The New York Times sued the paper on Wednesday, seeking to uncover internal records to determine whether the Times is following its editorial standards in its coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza.In a 48-page complaint filed in New York County Supreme Court, the petitioners claim the Times repeatedly published materially false details about the conflict and suggested “journalistic standards have been weaponized within the company to serve the personal agendas of unchecked editors.”Their argument rests on claims from an unnamed former employee at the paper, who they say blew the whistle on prejudiced reporting as early as 2019, eventually bringing the claims to human resources.“The response to the whistleblower from the human resources department about the reporting of many instances of anti-Israel bias by fellow journalists was stark: ‘If you don’t like our values here, maybe you should go find a place whose values align with yours,’” the suing groups argue.One of the petitioners is the State Board of Administration of Florida, which oversees the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund — a holder of more than 160,000 shares of New York Times stock. The other is the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank that has been a shareholder since 2017.Both groups say they’re entitled, as shareholders, to view the Times’ corporate records to determine if the paper followed its own editorial standards in its coverage and whether it properly addressed the whistleblower’s claims of bias. The groups argue they aren’t looking to “review, second-guess, or override any editorial judgment,” only to perform their responsibility as shareholders to ensure the paper isn’t damaging its brand with prejudicial reporting.“A board that has identified that risk in its own securities filings must take reasonable steps to learn whether the controls the company maintains against it actually operate as needed,” they claim. “The evidence adduced to date suggests they do not.”According to the petitioners, the whistleblower was a Jewish employee at the Times’ video desk. She purportedly raised concerns about antisemitism and bias against Israel at least 15 times until her departure from the company earlier this year.In doing so, the groups claim she went through all available channels to report standards violations. She reported her colleagues’ public advocacy for Palestine to no avail, despite human resources asking her to delete an internal Slack message “supporting Jewish colleagues.”“Her desk supervisor told her that ‘it’s not your job to be the ombudsman of the New York Times,’ a position eliminated by the company in 2017 that was never replaced,” they claim. “She was told that colleagues were ‘reluctant to work with’ her, and she told human resources, on tape, that her desk head had instructed her not to escalate concerns about bias beyond her.”The groups further argue certain instances of coverage support their demand for company records, like several erroneous, since-corrected statements and headlines. In one “flagrantly false” 2023 header, the Times wrote Gaza deaths surpassed “any Arab loss in wars in [the] past 40 years,” which was corrected six days later.In a statement to Courthouse News, a Times representative said this shareholder complaint from the State Board of Administration of Florida and the National Center for Public Policy Research is actually a bid to strong-arm the paper into reporting on Israel more favorably.“This lawsuit has no merit and was brought for an improper purpose,” Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said. “Although it is positioned as a corporate governance petition to inspect the company’s books and records, it is a transparent attempt to exert agenda-driven pressure against an independent media organization, level false allegations of bias and chill journalism protected by the First Amendment. We will defend against the suit vigorously.”Florida’s State Board of Administration serves more than 1.2 million members and beneficiaries, and is overseen by the state’s governor, Republican Ron DeSantis.Categories / Business, Law, MediaSubscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads