Copyright Newsweek
Ms. Rachel, a highly popular internet personality, educator, and children’s rights advocate, announced on social media late Saturday night that she is unsubscribing from The New York Times due to its “biased and dehumanizing coverage of Palestinians and Palestine.” Newsweek has reached out to the Times’ press team and a representative for Ms. Rachel for comment via email on Sunday. Why It Matters Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Accurso, started her YouTube channel in 2019 with her husband, Broadway music director Aron Accurso. Her content features catchy educational songs that are widely popular with children. She boasts over 17.6 million subscribers on YouTube, 4.3 million followers on Instagram, has nine books, a toy line, and a Netflix series. She is a vocal children’s rights advocate and has been outspoken about her support for Palestinian children amid the lengthy war between Israel and Hamas. The militant group attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, with their release at the center of the first phase of President Donald Trump's peace agreement. Israel has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, most from strikes and ground operations, while others have died from famine and lack of medical equipment that was partially blocked from entering the enclave. The Times and other mainstream media outlets have received significant backlash over their coverage of the war, with critics saying their language around Israeli and Palestinian death tolls is inconsistent, “dehumanizing,” and bias. Several organizations critical of their reporting, such as Writers Against the War on Gaza, have said that the newspaper's stories are “manufacturing consent for war, for exploitation, for genocide.” What To Know Ms. Rachel has used her platform to advocate for Palestinian children, raising money for Save the Children through paid videos and featuring Rahaf, a 3-year-old from Gaza who lost both legs in an airstrike. She has frequently posted messages about the impact of war on children and called upon leaders to end the war’s devastating toll on children. Earlier this week, at Glamour’s Women of the Year, which she was named, Ms. Rachel wore a gown embroidered with artwork created by children in Gaza, a visual statement that elevated their stories. During her speech, she spoke about each child’s drawings and spoke to their experiences of living through the war. In a late Saturday night Instagram post, she wrote, “I am unsubscribing from The New York Times because of its biased and dehumanizing coverage of Palestinians and Palestine, and its failure to uphold journalistic integrity.” On Sunday morning, she added a second post about the Times with the caption "words matter." The 42-year-old educator has called out the Times before, particularly with the newspaper's terminology and word choice, arguing that the war is a genocide, a term that the Israeli government has repeatedly denied. In the Sunday post she wrote about an internal leaked memo from the Times editors that provided editorial guidance to journalists on terminology to use and refrain from. A copy of the November 2023 memo was obtained by The Intercept, which reported on it in April 2024, saying it was written by Times standards editor Susan Wessling, international editor Philip Pan, and their deputies in an outline to offer "guidance about some terms and other issues we have grappled with since the start of the conflict in October.” "Words like 'slaughter,' 'massacre,' and 'carnage' were among those flagged. The document also advised journalists to avoid terms such as 'genocide,' 'ethnic cleansing,' 'occupied territory,' and 'Palestine,' except in narrow legal or historical contexts," Ms. Rachel wrote. "It discouraged describing Gaza's 'refugee camps,' as such, suggesting they be referred to as neighborhoods instead." In a May Times story, the newspaper noted ongoing controversy and accusations from the group StopAntisemitism that suggested Ms. Rachel was paid by Hamas, which she denied writing in an email, “This accusation is not only absurd, it’s patently false." She continued, "I’ve spent my life committed to the learning and well-being of children...I have always believed that safety and security are a basic human right for every child — so you see, caring about children in Gaza is a direct continuation of the work I’ve been doing most of my life. We don’t care about only some of our students because of where those students were born, we care about every one of them.” Her announcement comes as over 300 writers, scholars, and intellectuals have pledged to not contribute to the Times’ Opinion section until it takes "accountability for its biased coverage and commits to truthfully and ethically reporting on the U.S.-Israeli war on Gaza." What People Are Saying Assal Rad, a non-resident fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, wrote in an X post Saturday night: "Ms Rachel joining the @nytimes boycott. You love to see it." In a second post, she wrote: "Having corrected NYT’s headlines for years, it’s so nice to see Ms Rachel tell it like it is and call them out for their anti-Palestinian bias." A coalition of over 300 writers said in a statement, in part, boycotting the Times: "The paper has reprinted outright lies from Israeli officials, withheld or amended coverage at the behest of the Israeli consulate and pro-Israel lobby groups, and directed its reporters to avoid terms like 'slaughter,' 'ethnic cleansing,' and 'occupied territory.' The paper’s anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian biases also seep into its hiring practices: Top executives, editors, and reporters at the Times maintain material ties to the Israeli occupation and to the Israel lobby in the U.S., while Arab and Muslim employees have been purged from staff or subjected to a 'racially targeted witch hunt.' And while claims by Israeli officials are treated as fact in news coverage, genocide is reduced to a matter of debate in the Opinion section." Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Washington, wrote in an X post Sunday: "Jokes on you Ms. Rachel, because I never subscribed anyways." Erik Baker, lecturer at Harvard University, said in an X post on October 27: "I'm proud to join friends, comrades, and inspirations in a boycott of the NYT Opinion section until the paper meaningfully redresses its complicity in the Gaza genocide. As a former contributor, this was not an easy choice, but I know it's the right one."
