A Manhattan resident is suing The New York Times for $50 million, alleging the newspaper's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war has misled the public and caused him significant emotional distress. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court in April, centers on the Times's editorial guidance regarding the use of terms like "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" when reporting on the conflict in Gaza.
The plaintiff, Timothy Murphy, claims that an internal memo from November 2023, reportedly from international editor Philip Pan and standards editor Susan Wessling, instructed journalists to limit the use of "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing," and to avoid the phrase "occupied territory" when referring to Palestinian land. The lawsuit states this guidance was intended to "deceive the public about Israel’s genocide" and that forbidding the word "genocide" serves only to "hide genocide."
According to the lawsuit, the memo advised that "genocide... has a specific definition in international law" and should generally be used only within those legal parameters, setting a "high bar" for its application, even in quotations. Murphy, however, insists the paper should use a "conventional" definition of genocide: "The systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group."
Murphy alleges that the Times's coverage, by omitting the term "genocide" and allegedly withholding the "truth," has led to his suffering from insomnia, compromised health due to stress, and feelings of helplessness and insanity due to "gaslighting and naked hypocrisy." The lawsuit states he "cried himself to sleep on numerous occasions."
In addition to $50 million in damages, Murphy is seeking a court order that would require the Times to place warning labels on articles related to the Gaza war. These labels would reportedly read: "WARNING: PROPAGANDA" or "WARNING: MISINFORMATION."
A spokesperson for The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.