The leader of the union representing New York Times employees has accused the paper of targeting staff of Middle Eastern and North African descent as part of the legacy outlet’s investigation into a leak related to its reporting on Israel and Hamas.
In a letter sent Friday to Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, Susan DeCarava, president of NewsGuild of New York, said that union-backed journalists who raised concerns about the paper’s approach to covering Gaza were being “targeted for their national origin, ethnicity and race, creating an ominous chilling-effect across the newsroom and effectively silencing necessary and critical internal discussion.”
The Times launched an internal leak probe, which was first reported on by Vanity Fair, after The Intercept published an exposé in January revealing that the newspaper’s flagship podcast, “The Daily,” had canceled a planned episode of a Times investigative report alleging Hamas militants “weaponized sexual violence” when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
According to the exposé, the episode was shelved after the December report could not pass a fact check and had faced questions of credibility from staff and the public.
A Times spokesperson denied the allegation to The Intercept after the exposé’s publication and defended the original reporting in statements to other outlets.
In response to the exposé, the Times’ leadership launched a weekslong investigation to find the alleged whistleblower who leaked information to The Intercept. In her letter, DeCarava said that guild members “asserted their protected right to union representation” when they were called into meetings with management’s investigators.
“What we have learned about these meetings is shocking,” she wrote. “Rather than simple information-gathering, the meetings became a vehicle for the harassment and intimidation of our members.”
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