New York Times memo instructs journalists to avoid terms like 'genocide', report shows

According to an internal memo obtained by The Intercept, The New York Times instructed journalists reporting on Israel's war on the Gaza Strip to limit the use of the terms "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" and to refrain from using the phrase "occupied territory" when referring to Palestinian land.

The memo also tells reporters to refrain from using the word Palestine "except in very rare cases" and to avoid the term "refugee camps" when describing areas in Gaza historically settled by internally displaced Palestinians who fled from other parts of Palestine during previous conflicts, The Intercept reported.

Penned by Times standards editor Susan Wessling, international editor Philip Pan, and their deputies, the memo "offers guidance about some terms and other issues we have grappled with since the start of the conflict in October.”

Although presented as a guideline for upholding objective journalistic standards in covering the war in Gaza, some Times employees told The Intercept that certain elements of the document indicate the newspaper's inclination to favour Israeli narratives.