NY Times Union: Paper on 'Racially Targeted Witch Hunt'

New York Times management has denied allegations from the union representing the paper's journalists of "racially targeting" employees of Middle Eastern and North African ancestry, TheWrap reported.

During an internal investigation of a leak about an unreleased episode of "The Daily" podcast, the NewsGuild of New York alleges that the Times targeted staff for "their national origin, ethnicity and race" and singled out some for "particularly hostile questioning."

The podcast episode reportedly discussed the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel and the sexual assaults that occurred during the brutal incursion.

In a statement on X, Friday, the Guild said it "intends to vigorously defend our members and their rights, and ensure that all our members are protected in a workplace free from harassment and racial profiling."

TheWrap reported that, in a letter to Times Chair A.G. Sulzberger, Guild President Susan DeCarava demanded that the Times "cease what has become a destructive and racially targeted witch hunt."

"The NewsGuild's claim that we targeted people based on their associations or ethnicity is preposterous," New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said in a statement to TheWrap on Saturday. "While we aren't going to comment on internal matters, as we've said before, the work of our newsroom requires trust and collaboration, and we expect all of our colleagues to adhere to these values."

In a Saturday memo to staff, the Times' senior management accused the union of "making a series of false allegations" about the internal probe and gave its own account of the investigation.

"We are currently undertaking an inquiry to determine how outside media got access to information in confidential planning documents and draft scripts The Daily team was using in preparing an episode," Executive Editor Joseph Kahn and Managing Editors Marc Lacey and Carolyn Ryan said, according to TheWrap.

"We undertook the inquiry for a simple reason," the memo said. "Using access to our publishing systems to reveal pre-publication details of our journalism to people outside The Times crosses a clear red line. It threatens the culture of trust essential to the intensive editing process in every part of the newsroom."

The Intercept reported last week that freelance journalist Anat Schwartz's article "Screams Without Words" about the sexual violence committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 was supposed to be discussed on an episode of "The Daily" but did not pass a fact-check process.

In a statement to The Intercept, the Times said, "No Daily episode was killed due to fact checking failures."

While continuing to defend its original report of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the paper said that Schwartz had committed "unacceptable violations" when she liked a post on X that advocated for turning the Gaza Strip "into a slaughterhouse." She has reportedly since apologized and a Times spokesperson said a review of her social media is underway.

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