New York Times (NYT) has allegedly instructed its reporters and journalists covering the Israel-Gaza conflict not to use words like ‘genocide’, ‘massacre’, ‘occupied territory’, and ‘refugees’ among others words in their coverage, according to the copy of the memo obtained by The Intercept.
The American investigative agency, The Intercept, has exposed editorial guidelines given by the leading news agency to its journalists and reports about how they should report the conflict and the ongoing conflict.
The alleged leaked internal memo of The New York Times has stirred a debate on social media regarding the biased role of the newspaper in the Israel-Palestine conflict. The new editorial guidelines will directly impact the perception of the public on the events unfolding in Gaza and Palestine.
The memo has been penned down by Times standard editor, Susan Wessling, international editor Philip Pan, and their deputies. It first circulated in November 2023 and has been periodically updated amid Israel’s ongoing invasion of Gaza that started in last October.
Guidelines have stopped journalists and reporters from using words such as refugees, genocide, ethnic cleansing, refugee camps, and occupied territory in their writings.
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“Can we articulate why we are applying those words to one particular situation and not another? As always, we should focus on clarity and precision — describe what happened rather than using a label,” the memo notes.
The memo also urged them to use the word terrorists instead of fighters when talking about certain attacks.
“It is accurate to use ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ in describing the attacks of October 7, which included the deliberate targeting of civilians in killings and kidnappings,” according to the leaked Times memo.
In the latest development, Israel has so far not responded to the drone attack by Iran that happened a few days ago. Instead, they have announced to launch a ‘diplomatic offensive’ against Iran, urging countries to intensify sanctions against Revolutionary Guards and their missile program.