The Trump administration sued the New York Times for anti-white discrimination on Tuesday, saying the newspaper giant passed over a male employee because of the color of his skin.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said that The Times “chose” not to promote a white male employee with “extensive experience in real estate” journalism, leaving him out of the final interview process in 2025. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, pointed to the Times’ DEI policies as the source of its bias.
“Every candidate who advanced through to the final interview process was not a white male,” the commission said. “The company ultimately hired an outside candidate for the role — a non-white female with little to no experience in real estate journalism, despite such experience being a requirement for the real estate editor position.”
The complaint said that the minority candidate was ultimately hired outside the standard interview process and chosen despite two internal candidates being rated more favorably by the interview panel.
“As a White male, Charging Party did not match the race and/or sex characteristics NYT sought to increase in its leadership through its diversity actions and aspirations,” the suit said. “The four candidates advanced to the panel interview stage matched the race and/or sex characteristics NYT sought to increase in its leadership. Specifically, the final pool of candidates was composed of a White female, a Black male, an Asian female, and a multiracial female.”
In 2021, the Times published a “Call to Action” saying that it was committed to making itself more “diverse, equitable and inclusive” and increasing “racial diversity of leadership.” Since 2017, the newspaper has also published the racial and gender demographics of its staff, and various subsequent reports have talked about making “progress” in increasing minority and women employment.
“A decrease in the percentage of White male employees (whether new hires, existing employees, or those in leadership, as appropriate) was a necessary consequence for the NYT to achieve these results,” the lawsuit said.
Internal company Slack messages from May 2024 show that Deputy Managing Editor Monica Drake and Assistant Managing Editor for Strategy, Operations and Finance, Jonathan Galinsky, were concerned about not enough “people of color” being hired in leadership positions, according to the lawsuit.
“The May 2024 conversation between Drake and Galinsky, who were senior editors, shows that NYT top leadership discussed ‘targeted efforts’ and were ‘alarmed’ about the trends in the percentage of Whites in leadership reflected in that data, and shows NYT intended to act to increase the numbers of non-White leaders,” the lawsuit said.
Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha told The Daily Wire the complaint was “politically motivated.”
“Our employment practices are merit-based and focused on recruiting and promoting the best talent in the world. We will defend ourselves vigorously,” she said. “The allegation centers on a single personnel decision for one of over 100 deputy positions across the newsroom, yet the EEOC’s filing makes sweeping claims that ignore the facts to fit a predetermined narrative. Neither race nor gender played a role in this decision — we hired the most qualified candidate, and she is an excellent editor.”
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said that there was no “diversity exception” to race-based hiring or programs.
“No one is above the law — including ‘elite’ institutions. There is no such thing as ‘reverse discrimination’; all race or sex discrimination is equally unlawful, according to long-established civil rights principles,” she said. “Federal law is clear: making hiring or promotion decisions motivated in whole or in part by race or sex violates federal law. There is no diversity exception to this rule.”