KnowUs, a new, coordinated movement to counter misleading, negative portrayals of Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, penned an open letter to the Board of the Pulitzer Prize urging it to refrain from granting the award to The New York Times for its deeply offensive and flawed series of articles attacking these thriving communities. Prize winners are scheduled to be announced in May.

Since September 2022, KnowUs has chronicled a Times crusade of one-sided, inaccurate articles mischaracterizing Orthodox Jews. The activist reporting is widely rumored to have set its sights on the journalistic award.

KnowUs mailed the letter to each of the 18 Pulitzer board members on Monday morning. The 30-page letter includes 70 endnotes, and not only catalogs the offensive tropes irresponsibly amplified by the Times in an environment of rising, dangerous antisemitism, but also demonstrates that the Times knowingly employed sources with extensive conflicts of interest, something it failed to disclose; falsely claimed credit for real-world impacts; presented misleading data; misrepresented basic educational funding elements; and repeatedly engaged in unwarranted negative associations.

The Pulitzer Prize guidelines contain sparse official requirements for attaining its coveted award. It merely states that “entries must adhere to the highest journalistic principles … that exemplifies the longstanding ethics of the journalistic profession. These include a commitment to honesty with both readers and the subjects of our work. The best journalism is transparent about its sources and methods. The rigor and completeness of sourcing is an important factor in judging the quality of submissions.”

KnowUs, which was formed under the auspices of Agudath Israel of America following broad outrage at the articles, undertook this project because it felt the critical need for the Pulitzer Prize Board to review, in an informed manner, the articles’ adherence to “the highest journalistic principles” the Pulitzer Board so values.

KnowUs writes: “We believe that awarding these articles, in any way, will be seen not only as a tacit approval and furtherance of offensive, antisemitic tropes, but would diminish the standing of the Pulitzer Prize by celebrating articles of demonstrably poor journalistic integrity.”

KnowUs is not alone in its critical scrutiny of The New York Times reporting. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), among many others, have decried the coverage.

Any legitimate issues the paper sought to raise or explore were buried by these, and other, serious breaches of journalistic ethics, and by the articles’ creation of bigoted caricatures of Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, further othering an already marginalized community.