NYT Collaborating with State Government to Target Orthodox Jews

The New York Times collaborated with the New York State government to produce its now-infamous series of stories targeting Orthodox Jewish schools, according to over 800 pages of emails obtained by Breitbart News.

By EMMA-JO MORRIS, BREITBART

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – MAY 8: Orthodox Jews come out into the streets of the Borough Park neighborhood to dance, sing, and light fires during the celebration of the annual Lag Baomer holiday, May 8, 2023 in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)[/caption]

The Times’ Eliza Shapiro — self-described “serious reporter who doesn’t pull punches” — is seen in the massive volume of communications, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, discussing with the New York State Education Department how “we” can craft comment for the first story launching the Times’ series of articles targeting yeshivas, and giving the government almost a full business-week longer than the schools to comment. Emails also show she worked with the government to direct blame for the Times’ allegations, and coordinated timing on publishing with a vote to regulate the religious schools.

The Times’ first story that launched the anti-religious crusade, published in September, alleges Hasidic students “[know] nothing” and grow up “barely [able] to support their own families.” The story was revealed by Breitbart to have been carefully curated by omitting relevant information, shunning sources directly involved with the schools, and declining to publish pertinent on-the-record statements — producing a weapon used by secular political interest groups to attack the Orthodox Jewish community’s most sacred institutions.

Orthodox Jews come out into the streets of the Borough Park neighborhood to dance, sing, and light fires during the celebration of the annual Lag Baomer holiday, May 8, 2023 in Brooklyn, New York. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

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As Breitbart previously reported, the “investigation” dropped in what appeared to be unbelievable timing, the day before the Board of Regents held a unanimous vote, without debate, to allow state functionaries heavier say in the education of Orthodox children. Those children happen to be of parents vehemently opposed to the social justice curriculum that has been injected into most other New York schools.

Now, newly obtained emails show the Times working with the New York State Education Department in close collaboration to produce the story with maximum political impact.

In one correspondence, Shapiro is seen working with the government to produce the state’s comment on the reporting, with almost a week longer to respond than the private religious schools being maligned.

“Hi! Hope all is well with you. We are aiming to publish the yeshiva investigation late next week and I wanted to walk you through it on a high level and we can talk about what might make sense for comment. I’m flexible today if you have some time. Thanks so much,” reporter Eliza Shapiro emailed then-Education Department Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, Emily DeSantis, on August 29. The subject line of that email was “Walking you through the yeshiva story.”

Seven minutes later, DeSantis replied, setting up a call later that afternoon.

The yeshivas named in the story were contacted for comment four days later with a summary of the report. The schools were not offered to “walk you through it on a high level,” nor to “talk about what might make sense for comment,” according to emails provided by some of those schools to Breitbart.

In another email, a few days later on September 6, Shapiro writes to DeSantis again with a “fact checking question,” where she struggles with who is to blame for her central claim that yeshivas are not meeting state education standards. She opens the email telling the government public relations deputy she is “hoping you can help.”

“Good morning Emily, I have another fact checking question I’m hoping you can help with. We are planning to state that the yeshivas we mention appear to be violating the substantial equivalency law, based on our findings. We understand that the state constitutional guarantee to a basic education actually puts the onus on the state, rather than the schools, to enforce the law, so in that case the state violates the law. But I wasn’t sure whether it’s the state or the schools that can violate the SE law? Thanks so much for any guidance,” Shapiro writes.

A few hours later, DeSantis replies that the state “supervises” the enforcement of education provisions on non-public schools, and then proceeds to explain that the rest of Shapiro’s claim about “basic education” is confused with a different law, only pertaining to public schools.

“Your reference to ‘a basic education’ appears to refer to a separate, constitutional obligation owed only to public school students. In a 1995 decision, The Court of Appeals held that the education clause of the New York Constitution requires that a ‘sound basic education’ be provided to public school students (Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. v. State, 86 N.Y.2d 307, 317 [1995]; N.Y. Const. Art. XI, § 1). New York State’s liability for failure to ensure that school districts offer a ‘sound basic education’ is a separate legal issue [State substantial equivalency law],” DeSantis told Shapiro in an email obtained by Breitbart.

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