New York Times Ends Probe Into Leak Over Gaza Coverage Without Conclusive Finding

The New York Times ended its investigation into whether staffers leaked confidential information about its Gaza war coverage without any conclusive finding, Executive Editor Joe Kahn told staff Monday.

The company began its investigation after nonprofit news organization the Intercept reported that the Times had shelved an episode of its “Daily” podcast after internal debate. The episode focused on a controversial Times story by Jeffrey Gettleman and freelancers that found Hamas had weaponized sexual violence in its attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.

Charlotte Behrendt, director of policy and internal investigations at the Times, oversaw the probe, interviewing close to 20 people over the course of many weeks. The investigation became contentious at times, with the union filing a grievance alleging that the company was targeting a group of staffers of Arab and Middle Eastern descent. Times leaders said the allegations are false.

Reporting about the Gaza war has been a topic of considerable debate inside the Times. Some staffers questioned the reporting behind the Gettleman story and alleged that the suffering of Gazans isn’t getting the same attention. Times leaders in March said they stand by the reporting.

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Linkerbaan, 1 month ago

This article follows last months “Union Accuses NYT Of Racially Targeting Staff In Leak Probe Over Paper’s Israel Reporting” where NYT started harrassing their Arab employees to find out who is leaking their memos.

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.

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.

Also the term “freelancers” in this WSJ article is an interesting way to describe ex-IDF soldiers without any prior journalistic experience.

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