Add The New York Post on Google The New York Times is reviewing columns by opinion writer Nicholas Kristof after a report found he repeatedly failed to disclose that some people he wrote about for the paper also donated to his unsuccessful campaign for governor of Oregon — weeks after his controversial column alleging widespread sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli guards sparked an international firestorm.
Kristof, who briefly left the Times in 2021 to run for office, failed to disclose in at least a dozen columns that several people and organizations he cited had donated to his campaign, according to Semafor.
The publication identified at least a dozen examples involving, among others, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and philanthropist Melinda French Gates, who gave a combined $100,000 to Kristof’s gubernatorial bid.
The Pulitzer Prize-winner has also given mention in his columns to former Harvard professor Joseph Nye, McKinsey Global Managing Partner Bob Sternfels and Council on Foreign Relations member Deborah Fikes, all of whom were quoted or cited without mention of their financial support.
According to Semafor, the Times said when Kristof returned to the paper in 2022 that he would either refrain from writing about financial supporters of his gubernatorial campaign or disclose those relationships to readers.
“Previous political donations made by some people Nick Kristof mentioned in his columns should have been made more clear to readers,” a New York Times spokesperson told The Post.
“Editors from Times Opinion are reviewing these articles to determine further clarifications for readers.”
During his foray into campaigning, Kristof pitched himself as a political outsider capable of tackling the state’s homelessness crisis, struggling schools and other persistent problems.
The columnist quickly became a fundraising powerhouse, hauling in nearly $2.5 million and attracting support from prominent donors across the country, including the Angelina Jolie Family Trust, which gave $10,000 to his campaign.
Abigail Disney, the documentary filmmaker and granddaughter of Walt Disney Company co-founder Roy O. Disney, chipped in the same amount.
But Kristof’s name never even appeared on the ballot by the time Oregonians went to the voting booths.
In February 2022, the state Supreme Court unanimously upheld a ruling that Kristof failed to satisfy the state’s constitutional residency requirement for governor, ending his bid before the primary election.
After discontinuing his campaign, he returned to the Times later that year. The money that he raised was moved into a political action committee that was created to support job-training and other public interest efforts in Oregon.
The disclosure controversy comes as Kristof remains under intense scrutiny over a May 11 opinion column in which he reported allegations of widespread sexual violence against Palestinians by Israeli prison guards, soldiers and settlers.
The article, titled “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” drew furious condemnation from Israeli officials, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government accusing the Times of publishing defamatory falsehoods and threatening legal action against the newspaper.
Critics including several pro-Israel media watchdog groups and commentators challenged the column’s sourcing and questioned whether some of its most graphic allegations had been independently corroborated.
The Times has stood firmly behind the piece, calling it a “deeply reported” work of opinion journalism that underwent extensive fact-checking before publication.
