In covering a story about a pianist’s failed lawsuit – emanating from a canceled concert following the musician’s on-stage proclamation that Israel was intentionally killing Palestinian journalists – The New York Times cited data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). But the coverage failed to acknowledge CPJ’s recent admission that it was embarking on a full-scale review of its listed journalists following Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas’ revelation that many of their fighters, who had been killed during the Israel-Hamas war, had been cosplaying as “journalists.”
According to Derrick Bryson Taylor’s July 12 article, “Melbourne Symphony Wins Discrimination Case Over Gaza Comments,” in August 2024, British-Australian pianist Jayson Gillham dedicated his performance, of an unscheduled musical piece entitled “Witness,” to journalists killed in Gaza. Gillham told his audience Israel had killed more than 100 Palestinian journalists since October 2023 and proclaimed, “The killing of journalists is a war crime in international law, and it is done in an effort to prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes to the world.”
Thereafter, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra canceled his upcoming performance. Gillham sued, alleging the orchestra violated his workplace rights because of his political beliefs. An Australian judge ruled he was an independent contractor and not protected under the cited law. The judge also said the Orchestra legitimately acted to protect its business and reputation and that the symphony could have done so even if Gillham had expressed a belief in support of Israel.
The New York Times never reported CPJ’s June 25, 2026, admission that it was going to review its journalist database after Hamas and PIJ published obituaries identifying “journalists” as combatants. CPJ’s need to undertake a review deals a significant blow to the entire premise of Gillham’s commentary. Taylor’s decision not to include this, despite citing the CPJ himself, and reporting on a lawsuit having to do with a musician’s proclamation that Israel targeted journalists in Gaza, is journalistic malpractice.
A late 2025 analysis by the Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Research Institute, before Hamas and PIJ revealed more of its fighters were masquerading as journalists, showed that approximately 60 percent of all “journalists” killed in Gaza had terror ties. Independent researchers who have conducted more recent analyses believe the number may be closer to 90 percent.
While Taylor always has the option of updating his article now, there is no excuse for his failure then to report both on the review CPJ said it was undertaking as well as the Hamas and PIJ obituaries that had already been published.
By omitting CPJ’s own ongoing review process, The Times didn’t just miss a critical update – it engaged in narrative laundering. Instead of showing reverence for the truth, “the paper of record” uncritically echoed raw statistics from the very source forced to admit just weeks earlier that it could not be trusted.