Over a dozen state attorneys general signed a letter directed toward media outlets like the New York Times and CNN, encouraging them to “follow the law” when it comes to coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict and putting them “on watch” to ensure they don’t give “material support to terrorists abroad.”
The letter was spearheaded by Republican Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and signed by 14 state attorneys general, and it was sent to the leadership of CNN, The New York Times, Reuters, and The Associated Press on Monday.
“We will continue to follow your reporting to ensure that your organizations do not violate any federal or State laws by giving material support to terrorists abroad. Now your organizations are on notice. Follow the law,” the letter read.
“Reporting credibly alleges that some of the individuals that your outlets hire have deep and troubling ties to Hamas—and may have participated in the October 7 attack,” the letter says in reference to photojournalists allegedly embedded within Hamas and with ties to the U.S. news organizations.
“In the wake of those alarming reports, some of you have cut ties with these so-called journalists whose connections to terror groups have become too obvious to hide. Good. But one factor in determining whether an organization has provided material support for terrorism is that it be ‘knowing,’” the letter states.
The letter continued: “If your outlet’s current hiring practices led you to give material support to terrorists, you must change these policies going forward. Otherwise, we must assume any future support of terrorist organizations by your stringers, correspondents, contractors, and similar employees is knowing behavior.”
Terrorist organizations like Hamas “are so tainted by their criminal conduct that any contribution to such an organization facilitates that [criminal] conduct,” the AGs wrote.
The U.S. government “defines material support to include ‘any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments . . . expert advice or assistance . . . communications equipment, facilities . . . and transportation, except medicine or religious materials,’” the letter continued.
The letter argued that The New York Times has not adequately responded to concerns of ties to employees with connections to Hamas.
“It instead stated that ‘[n]o employee’ was embedded with Hamas or had advance knowledge of the October 7 attacks. Notably absent from that defense are non-employees—freelancers, stringers, or other payees. Even more conspicuous is the absence of an acknowledgment that Times-paid photographers accompanied Hamas terrorists during the attacks,” the AGs wrote.
“We reiterate: material support of terrorist organizations is illegal. You should ensure that you are taking all necessary steps to prevent your organizations from contracting with members of terror organizations. We urge you in the strongest terms to take care that your hiring practices conform to the laws forbidding material support for terror organizations,” the letter said.
NYT, CNN, Reuters and the AP have all issued statements regarding their connections with Gaza-based freelancers present on Oct. 7, distancing themselves from the reporters after the war was launched and ensuring they had no prior knowledge of the Hamas attack on Israel.
