Award-winning New York Times Magazine Staff Writer Jazmine Hughes has resigned after signing a letter put together by the Writers Against The War On Gaza, an ad hoc coalition committed to solidarity and the horizon of liberation for the Palestinian people. A report put forth by the New York Times on Saturday claimed Hughes’ decision to sign the letter “violated the newsroom’s policies.”
“She and I discussed that her desire to stake out this kind of public position and join in public protests isn’t compatible with being a journalist at The Times, and we both came to the conclusion that she should resign,” New York Times Magazine Editor Jake Silverstein said.
The letter, signed by dozens of writers across several different publications, expressed “solidarity with the people of Palestine” and support for “their right to resist occupation.”
“We come together as writers, journalists, academics, artists, and other culture workers to express our solidarity with the people of Palestine. We stand with their anticolonial struggle for freedom and for self-determination, and with their right to resist occupation,” the letter reads.
“We stand firmly by Gaza’s people, victims of a genocidal war the United States government continues to fund and arm with military aid—a crisis compounded by the illegal settlement and dispossession of the West Bank and the subjugation of Palestinians within the state of Israel.”
Hughes did not issue a comment by way of the New York Times‘ report, but several other prominent journalists offered their thoughts on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“[I] can’t get over that 35+ journalists have been killed by Israel’s war on Gaza and the NYT will still discipline someone who opposes that,” Jacobin Staff Writer Alex N. Press wrote.
“Jazmine is such a brilliant journalist and this is a huge loss for the Times. It always baffles me that some NYT writers can use the newspaper itself to publish the dumbest opinions imaginable while others aren’t even allowed to write their own names in certain places,” Former Desus & Mero Head Writer Josh Gondelman added.
Hughes was not the only member of the New York Times Magazine staff to walk away over the weekend. New York Times Magazine Contributing Writer Jamie Lauren Keiles also left the publication after signing the letter.
“Sources were increasingly asking me to answer for what they understood to be shoddy coverage of BLM, trans stuff, [I]srael,” Keiles commented.
“Though [I] love my editors and have always felt supported, [I] ultimately decided the institution was taking more from me than giving to me.”
