EXPOSED: Yale study reveals New York Times' systematic anti-Israel slant in war coverage

The research, conducted by Yale professor Edieal Pinker, critically examined 1,561 articles published by the newspaper from October 7, 2023, to June 7, 2024. The findings suggest that The New York Times consistently downplayed Israeli suffering while focusing heavily on Palestinian casualties, and frequently omitted key facts that would have given readers a fuller, more balanced understanding of the conflict.

The study’s analysis found that The New York Times often portrayed Israel as the aggressor in the conflict, while the role of Hamas was either minimized or ignored. In fact, 70% of the articles in the study fit a dominant anti-Israel narrative. Remarkably, nearly 1,500 of the articles failed to mention Hamas combatant deaths, which created the misleading impression that Israel was exclusively targeting civilians. Additionally, over 93% of articles referenced Israel more frequently than Hamas, contributing to a narrative that placed full responsibility for the war on Israel alone.

While the newspaper did acknowledge the brutal massacre by Hamas on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis, its subsequent reporting increasingly shifted focus to Palestinian suffering. The study revealed that Israeli casualties, including the deaths of 364 soldiers and 34 civilians, were seldom covered, despite the ongoing rocket attacks and violence directed at Israel. Even Palestinian violence was largely ignored in war-related articles, with only 18% of reports mentioning attacks by Palestinian terrorists after October 7.

The study also pointed to significant gaps in coverage of the broader impact of the war on Israel. The plight of hostages, the grief of families, and the economic destruction caused by the conflict were largely overlooked. In some instances, there were weeks-long periods in which no Israeli casualties were reported, even as Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israeli cities.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had previously criticized the media for its failure to adequately cover Hamas’s ongoing role in the war. Blinken pointed out the lack of global calls for Hamas to cease its attacks, release hostages, and end the conflict, despite their continued violence.

In response to the study, The New York Times defended its reporting, claiming that it had covered the war with more rigor than nearly any other U.S. news organization. However, Pinker’s study suggests that the newspaper’s selective coverage has resulted in a skewed narrative—one that absolves Hamas of its actions while painting Israel as the sole aggressor.

YWN contributed to this article.