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'Outrageous': NYT Rejects Paid Ad From Quakers That Calls Israeli Attack on Gaza 'Genocide'
"Palestinians and allies have been silenced and marginalized in the media for decades as these institutions choose silence over accountability," said the secretary-general of the American Friends Service Committee.
Jan 08, 2025
The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, announced Wednesday that it has cancelled planned advertising with The New York Times after the outlet rejected one of the group's proposed ads that read: "Tell Congress to stop arming Israel's genocide in Gaza now! As a Quaker organization, we work for peace. Join us. Tell the President and Congress to stop the killing and starvation in Gaza."
AFSC alleges that after receiving the text of ad, the Times suggested they swap the word "genocide" for the word "war." The word war has "an entirely different meaning both colloquially and under international law," the Quaker group wrote.
AFSC said they rejected this proposed approach and then received an email from outlet's "Ad Acceptability Team" which read, in part, according to AFSC: "Various international bodies, human rights organizations, and governments have differing views on the situation. In line with our commitment to factual accuracy and adherence to legal standards, we must ensure that all advertising content complies with these widely applied definitions."
"New York Times Advertising works with parties submitting proposed ads to ensure they are in compliance with our acceptability guidelines. This instance was no different, and is entirely in line with the standards we apply to all ad submissions," a spokesperson for the Times said in an email to Common Dreams.
AFSC counters that a number of entities and individuals, such as the international human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have determined that Israel is committing genocide or acts of genocide in Gaza.
"The New York Times advertises a wide variety of products and advocacy messages on which there are differing views. Why is it not acceptable to publicize the meticulously documented atrocities committed by Israel and paid for by the United States?" said Layne Mullett, director of media relations for AFSC, in a statement.
Joyce Ajlouny, general secretary of AFSC, said that "the refusal of The New York Times to run paid digital ads that call for an end to Israel's genocide in Gaza is an outrageous attempt to sidestep the truth. Palestinians and allies have been silenced and marginalized in the media for decades as these institutions choose silence over accountability."
The AFSC has been a loud voice calling for a cease-fire and ending U.S. military support for Israel. For example, in April, the group announced a Tax Day campaign, a day of action where people held events and met with their members of Congress to demand they stop voting to spend U.S. tax dollars on military assistance to Israel.
AFSC staff in Gaza have also provided 1.5 million meals, hygiene kits, and other units of humanitarian aid to internally displaced people since October 2023, according to the Wednesday statement.
This article was updated to include an emailed statement from The New York Times.
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'No Excuse': News Outlets Backed by Big Oil Ads Quiet After UN Chief's Call for Ban
An end to fossil fuel advertising on news networks and websites would "hit oil companies where it hurts," said one expert.
Jun 07, 2024
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was unequivocal this week in his call for a global ban on fossil fuel advertising—but while outlets like The Washington Post and The New York Times covered his remarks on Wednesday, the corporate media showed little sign of abiding by Guterres demand that they stop helping oil and gas companies to "greenwash" their climate records and their effects on the planet.
The Guardian reported Friday that it received few responses when it reached out to 11 major news organizations and tech companies including Politico and Meta, with a spokesperson for Politico defending its practice of running fossil fuel advertisements alongside news coverage.
"Advertisers are prominently identified, and a clear distinction between news and ads, including sponsored content, is maintained across Politico's platforms," said the spokesperson. "No advertiser or advertisement sways editorial decisions or news judgment."
But as Harvard climate disinformation expert Naomi Oreskes told The Guardian, regardless of their ad policies, outlets like Politico, CNN, and others are likely clouding their audiences' understanding of the gravity of the climate emergency by reporting on the issue—only to then display ads by the companies that are responsible for heating the planet.
"No one is saying this is easy," Oreskes said. "But we need to face the hard stuff."
The Australian grassroots group Climate Council noted on Friday that since Guterres' speech, Channel 10 has continued airing "gas lobby ads like a news bulletin."
As The Guardian reported, an Australian Senate inquiry into greenwashing found that since March, the network has aired segments sponsored by gas industry lobbyists that were "made to look exactly the same as the headlines and using the 10 News sets."
"Big fossil fuel corporations in Australia have become expert greenwashers, gaslighting Australians and cashing in on the climate crisis," said Climate Council.
In his comments, Guterres urged public relations and advertising firms as well as news networks to view fossil fuel advertising the same way they have come to see tobacco ads, which some publications have stopped running in recent years due to the products' human health harms.
Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media, pointed out that the Times said in 1999 that it would no longer display cigarette ads because editors didn't "want to expose our readers to advertising that may be harmful to their health."
Henn implored the Times: "Tell me the same logic doesn't apply to fossil fuels."
The Guardian, Vox, and Le Monde are among global news publications that have stopped selling ad space to oil, coal, and gas companies in recent years. Amsterdam became the first city in the world to ban fossil fuel ads, and France enacted a ban on certain ads for the industry in 2022, while the United Kingdom did the same for misleading environmental terminology in ads this year.
Similar actions globally would "hit oil companies where it hurts," University of Miami professor Geoffrey Supran told The Guardian.
"If Big Oil loses its ability to lobby the public," he said, "its political power to delay climate action will be severely diminished."
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UN Chief Calls for Global Ban on Fossil Fuel Advertising
"There is no longer any cover for agencies to say that they are doing the right thing when working with polluters," said one campaigner. "Everyone knows this is wrong, and everyone needs to act."
Jun 05, 2024
Despite the grim news that scientists on Wednesday reported last month as the hottest May on record globally, marking 12 straight months with record-breaking heat, climate advocates expressed optimism after United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres signaled what one called a "game-changing intervention," urging governments to ban advertisements by fossil fuel firms.
The demand is in line with prohibitions on advertising for other "products that harm human health—like tobacco," said Guterres.
"Some are now doing the same with fossil fuels," he added. "I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies."
The secretary-general directly appealed to advertising and public relations companies and urged them to stop helping the fossil fuel industry in its quest to "shamelessly" greenwash their climate records and the harm their products do to the planet as well as to human health, with 1 in 5 deaths worldwide caused by air pollution.
"I call on these companies to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction. Stop taking on new fossil fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones," said Guterres. "Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet—they're toxic for your brand. Your sector is full of creative minds who are already mobilizing around this cause. They are gravitating towards companies that are fighting for our planet—not trashing it."
The secretary-general's comments called to mind the work of Clean Creatives, a project of Fossil Free Media, which calls on public relations, branding, and advertising agencies to sign a pledge stating that they will no longer work with the fossil fuel industry. More than 1,000 agencies have signed the pledge.
"U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres deserves recognition for saying so clearly that advertising and PR agencies should be cutting ties with fossil fuel polluters," said Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives. "This is a turning point in the advertising and PR industry's relationship with climate change and fossil fuels. There is no longer any cover for agencies to say that they are doing the right thing when working with polluters. Everyone knows this is wrong, and everyone needs to act.
"We are living through the hottest years in human history, and Secretary Guterres' statements today show what a safe climate future could look like for the creative and PR industry," said Meisel.
The Global Strategic Communications Council pointed to several examples of high-profile advertisements that have promoted the notion that fossil fuel energy is not endangering the planet and that the industry is committed to protecting the planet from catastrophic heating. The American Petroleum Institute launched an eight-figure ad blitz earlier this year, aiming to "dismantle policy threats," and in April, energy company Aramco was announced as a sponsor of the 2026 men's World Cup and the 2027 women's World Cup.
"Fossil money is everywhere making the ambitious action on climate that the science says we need difficult or impossible—social scientists have shown this pattern—it's ubiquitous and it's devastating," said Timmons Roberts, executive director of the Climate Social Science Network. "The 'enablers' are a key part of this blockage—PR firms, social and legacy media, consultancies, law firms, and financial actors all play roles in the obstruction of our building a livable future, which soon has to be without fossil fuels.”
Guterres said that in addition to bans on fossil fuel advertising—which have been embraced in France and the Dutch city of Amsterdam, and proposed in Canada, Ireland, and Scotland—news media and tech companies should stop displaying the industry's ads.
"All of us can make a difference, by embracing clean technologies, phasing down fossil fuels in our own lives, and using our power as citizens to push for systemic change," said Guterres.
Jake Dubbins, co-chair of the Conscious Advertising Network, called the secretary-general's speech "a huge signal to the advertising industry."
"As the misinformation tactics of the tobacco industry and the threat of its products to human health became clear, advertising was restricted and then banned," said Dubbins. "The same will happen for fossil fuel advertising. The industry should see this as a tipping point, but one of opportunity."
"Will the industry fully embrace the opportunities of the transition and secure a livable future or will it risk the maintenance of the status quo at the cost to its people, its non-fossil fuel clients, and its reputation?" he said. "The time to lead is now."
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