Shareholders say they want to determine whether the company’s board is enforcing editorial standards to guard against “biased and unreliable” reporting.
By Shula Rosen
Two New York Times shareholders have filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court seeking access to internal company records over concerns that the newspaper’s board has failed to address alleged antisemitism, anti-Israel bias and violations of its editorial standards.
The State Board of Administration of Florida and the National Center for Public Policy Research are asking the court to order the Times board of directors to release documents they say have been withheld for four months.
Most of the records sought relate to the newspaper’s reporting on the Israel-Hamas war.
Their petition cites what the shareholders characterize as factual errors in Times coverage of several subjects.
They argue the problems raise a reasonable inference that journalistic standards have been “weaponized within the company to serve the personal agendas of unchecked editors.”
Florida’s State Board of Administration oversees the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund, which holds more than 160,000 shares of New York Times stock.
The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, has owned Times shares since 2017.
Both shareholders say they want to determine whether the company’s board is taking adequate measures to enforce its editorial standards and guard against “biased and unreliable” reporting.
“A board that has identified that risk in its own securities filings must take reasonable steps to learn whether the controls the company maintains against it actually operate as needed,” the petitioners claim. “The evidence adduced to date suggests they do not.”
Among the evidence cited in the lawsuit is testimony from a Jewish former Times employee who worked on the newspaper’s video desk for nearly a decade.
According to the suit, the whistleblower raised concerns about antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on the desk at least 15 separate times from 2019 until leaving the newspaper in March 2026. She reported her concerns through several internal avenues, including managers, the standards desk and human resources, the filing says.
Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander disputed the lawsuit’s claims.
“This lawsuit has no merit and was brought for an improper purpose,” Stadtlander said.
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