New York Times rejects Albanese accusations it helped ‘legitimize atrocities’

Albanese also alleged that the newspaper “downplayed Israeli responsibility” in 65 percent of relevant headlines, despite Israeli officials calling out the paper on anti-Israel bias.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The New York Times rejected a report by UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinians Francesca Albanese accusing the newspaper of helping “legitimize atrocities” and participating in what she described as an “assault on the truth.”

Albanese’s report, “Truth under the rubble: media in the time of genocide,” alleges killings of Palestinian journalists, Israeli restrictions on the media and collusion by “influential international media” to “legitimize atrocities.” She describes the alleged “assault on truth” as “mediacide.”

Published online ahead of its presentation at the UN General Assembly, the report specifically criticizes The New York Times over several aspects of its coverage.

Albanese faulted the newspaper for advising editorial caution over terms including “genocide,” providing what she called “humanitarian camouflage” to Israel through reporting on Gaza “safe zones,” referring to Hamas’s use of “human shields” and giving excessive attention to sexual violence against Israelis.

She also alleged that the newspaper “downplayed Israeli responsibility” in 65 percent of relevant headlines, citing a media analysis by an activist group.

A New York Times spokesperson rejected the report’s findings, saying it “is not impartial, nor are the sources she relies on.”

“Fact-based journalism by The New York Times and other independent news organizations has shed critical light on the issues that Ms. Albanese is reviewing, and no pressure campaigns or biased criticism will deter us from that work,” the spokesperson told The Times of Israel.

The newspaper said Albanese “offers no proof” for her assertion that Israeli officials and pressure groups influence its editorial guidance.

Her criticism of the newspaper’s “safe zones” reporting is “wrong and misleading,” the spokesperson said.

“If Ms. Albanese read our coverage of ‘safe zones’ in context, rather than relying on studies with flawed methodologies, she would see that in the majority of cases, our coverage refers pointedly to ‘so-called’ safe zones,” the spokesperson said, adding that its reporting frequently questions whether those areas are actually safe.

“Ms. Albanese does not present any legitimate evidence to show ‘a pattern… of attribution of civilian deaths to Hamas’s tactics rather than to Israeli military actions’ or ‘downplaying Israeli responsibility’ as her report claims,” The New York Times said.

The spokesperson also said Albanese’s criticism of its reporting on sexual assault “ignores our repeated investigations on sexual violence against Palestinians.”

The New York Times has previously described Albanese as an “expert on the occupied Palestinian territories,” a legal scholar and an expert on human rights issues.

Israeli politicians and watchdog organizations have long accused The New York Times of systemic anti-Israel bias, weaponized editorial standards and minimizing the accounts of Israeli terror victims while disproportionately portraying Israel as the sole aggressor.