A Manhattan resident is suing The New York Times for $50 million, accusing the newspaper of refusing to describe the Israel-Hamas war as “genocide” and claiming that its coverage caused him severe emotional distress, including crying himself to sleep and feeling “gaslit,” according to a lawsuit.
Timothy Murphy says the Times’ reporting on the war in Gaza has misled readers by concealing what he calls “Israel’s genocide.”
Murphy argues that a leaked internal memo directing newsroom staff to limit their use of the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” amounted to anti-Palestinian “propaganda,” according to the complaint filed in Manhattan Supreme Court in April.
“The New York Times — in order to deceive the public about Israel’s genocide — forbade (among other words and phrases) the use of the word genocide,” the lawsuit states. “Forbidding the use of the word genocide serves no purpose other than to hide genocide.”
The memo was written in November 2023 by the newspaper’s international editor, Philip Pan, and standards editor, Susan Wessling. It was later leaked and reported on by The Intercept, according to the lawsuit.
According to the complaint, the guidance told journalists covering the Gaza war to limit their use of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and to avoid describing Palestinian land as “occupied territory.”
“‘Genocide….has a specific definition in international law. [W]e should generally use it only in the context of those legal parameters. We should also set a high bar for allowing others to use it as an accusation, whether in quotations or not, unless they are making a substantive argument based on the legal definition,” the memo stated, as quoted in the lawsuit.
Murphy contends that the newspaper should instead use what he describes as the “conventional” meaning of genocide when covering alleged harm to Palestinians.
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He defines the term as “the systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group.”
Murphy claims that the Times’ decision not to use the word and its alleged concealment of the “truth” left him depressed, confused and distressed, according to the complaint.
“Plaintiff cried himself to sleep on numerous occasions and was wrought by insomnia on others. Plaintiff had compromised health through stress and a profound feeling of helplessness,” the lawsuit states.
“Plaintiff had the sense of his own insanity by virtue of the gaslighting and naked hypocrisy. An obsession for truth began to grip him,” it adds. “Heightened depression and anxiety followed from The New York Times’ persistent effort to help the genocide.”
In addition to seeking $50 million in damages, Murphy wants the newspaper to place a warning label on any “censored” article concerning the Gaza war.
“Similar to the tobacco companies, a warning on the top of any censored article [should state] ‘WARNING: PROPAGANDA’ or ‘WARNING: MISINFORMATION,’” the lawsuit declares.
A Times spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.