News - World: More than 300 writers, scholars, and public intellectuals have pledged to refrain from contributing to the Opinion section of the New York Times until three specific demands are met in a significant stand against media bias against Palestinians.  

The writers have decided to withhold their labor until the Opinion pages take “accountability for its biased coverage and commit to truthfully and ethically reporting on the US-Israeli war on Gaza.”

The coalition, driven by a commitment to ethical journalism, addresses longstanding concerns regarding the paper's portrayal of the Palestinian experience, particularly in the context of the ongoing genocidal war in Gaza.

The signatories—known as a group of “writers of conscience”—include notable figures such as Rima Hassan, Rashida Tlaib, Kaveh Akbar, Sally Rooney, Tareq Baconi, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Greta Thunberg, Elia Suleiman, and Rupi Kaur, among many others. Prominent literary voices, including Jonny Diamond and Dan Sheehan from Lit Hub, have also added their names to this collective commitment.

Among the signatories are nearly 150 former contributors to the Times, as well as several Palestinian solidarity organizations, including Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), and the Palestinian Feminist Collective (PFC).

They condemned the New York Times’ "decades-long practice of acting as a bullhorn for the Israeli government and military" and its persistent "anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian biases."

To address these issues, the group has outlined three primary demands:

A comprehensive review of anti-Palestinian bias within the newsroom, accompanied by the establishment of new editorial standards for coverage related to Palestine.

The retraction of the widely discredited investigation titled “Screams Without Words.”

A public call from the Editorial Board for a US arms embargo on Israel.

The pledge begins with a powerful assertion from Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat, who stated, “Language makes genocide justifiable. A reason why we are still being bombed after 243 days is because of The New York Times and most Western media.”

Tragically, Shabat was assassinated by Israeli forces mere months after articulating these sentiments.

In concluding their statement, the writers emphasize the moral imperative to stand in solidarity with Palestinian journalists.

“We owe it to the journalists and writers of Palestine to refuse complicity with the Times and to demand that the paper account for its failures. It is essential that it can never again manufacture consent for mass slaughter, torture, and displacement,” they said.

The boycott represents a refusal to contribute to a publication and a clarion call for accountability, integrity, and a commitment to truth in journalism amidst a profoundly challenging geopolitical landscape.

Israel unleashed its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out the historic Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Israel accepted a Gaza ceasefire deal after it failed to achieve its declared objectives of eliminating Hamas and freeing all captives, despite killing 68,527 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 170,395 others, according to the health ministry of Gaza.

Source: Press TV