The New York Times has opened an investigation into its columnist Nicholas Kristof after it was reported that he wrote about individuals who donated to his political campaign without disclosing this information.
Fox News reported the investigation this week, adding that Kristof “spent years questioning everyone else’s integrity; now his own is under review.”
Kristof briefly left the Times in 2021 to run for governor of Oregon. After his failed bid, the newspaper welcomed him back a year later, stating that the columnist would refrain from writing about donors to his campaign or would disclose his relationship with them, aligned with the newspaper’s strict rules about its journalists and political activism.
“Previous political donations made by some people Nick Kristof mentioned in his columns should have been made clearer to readers. Editors from Times Opinion are reviewing these articles to determine further clarifications for readers,” a Times spokesperson told Fox News.
On Monday, a report in Semafor alleged that, between 2022 and 2025, Kristof wrote favourably about Bill Gates and his non-profit, a separate financial institution and other organisations that donated to his political campaign.
The relationship between the Times and Kristof came under scrutiny after he wrote a piece on May 11 titled The Silence that Meets the Rape of Palestinians in which he accused Israeli guards of sexually assaulting Palestinian prisoners, including training dogs to commit rape.
The column drew attention and controversy worldwide, culminating in the UN’s decision to place Israel on a list of parties suspected of committing sexual violence in conflict.
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