Some LA Times Saffers Block From Covering Israel

The Los Angeles Times has banned more than three dozen reporters and editors from covering the war in Gaza after they signed an open letter condemning Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 massacre, according to The NY Post.

The letter sent on Nov. 9 blasted Israel for killing journalists and called on newsrooms to refer to Israel’s military response as a “genocide,” Semafor reported on Thursday.

“Staffers who signed the letter have been told by the paper’s management that they will not be allowed to cover the conflict in any way for at least three months,” the outlet reported, citing anonymous sources.

The letter also called on newsrooms to use language including “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “genocide” when referring to the Israeli incursion into Gaza — terms that critics say are biased and do not accurately depict the conflict.

Semafor said that roughly a dozen current LA Times staffers signed the letter, but Mediaite reported that LA Times reporter Suhauna Hussain claimed the number was actually closer to “more than three dozen.”

Yes it’s true we’ve been taken off coverage, which in effect removes a great many Muslim journalists and most if not all Palestinians at the LA Times from coverage,” she wrote on X, adding that it was “not true or at least not clear signing letter is a violation of LA Times ethics policy.”

At least 35 journalists have reportedly been killed during Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza and war with Hamas.