Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has sent a formal shareholder demand to The New York Times Company, seeking access to its internal books and records on behalf of the State Board of Administration of Florida and the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund.
The demand, issued under Section 624 of the New York Business Corporation Law and common law, calls on the company to turn over board- and officer-level materials regarding its editorial oversight, source-verification procedures, and risk management systems dating back to 2020.
According to the demand letter, the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund is a long-term owner of the company’s Class A common stock and represents more than 1.2 million pension members and beneficiaries.
The state’s demand centers on whether the company’s Board of Directors maintains adequate oversight mechanisms to protect the business from reputational and legal risks. In public filings, the company has identified its brand and reputation as key assets while warning investors that perceptions of bias, unreliability, and defamation claims pose material risks.
The letter states that the demand “arises from the Company’s repeated publication of factually unsupported content and from the perceived absence of any control and required supervision by the Company’s Board of Directors (the ‘Board’) over the editorial standards the Company itself has adopted to prevent it.”
The document specifies that the fund does not seek unpublished drafts, reporter notes, or the identities of confidential sources.
It also notes that it does not seek to challenge editorial judgment or infringe on First Amendment protections, but rather aims to investigate corporate governance and supervisory controls.
The letter outlines several specific reporting controversies and subsequent corrections as grounds for the inspection:
The May 11, 2026, opinion column by Nicholas Kristof regarding alleged misconduct by Israeli forces, which prompted Israeli leadership to announce plans for a defamation lawsuit and led to divergent statements from company editors regarding editorial rigor.
Reports regarding undisclosed political donations from figures quoted in several of Kristof’s columns between 2022 and 2025, which the company previously acknowledged “should have been made more clear to readers.”
The 2020 podcast series “Caliphate,” which the paper later acknowledged “did not meet our standards for accuracy” after its core source was charged with fabricating details.
Past coverage corrections, including reports surrounding the death of a U.S. Capitol Police officer in 2021 and initial coverage of the October 2023 explosion at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.
The filing also highlights the company’s 2017 decision to eliminate its internal Public Editor position, arguing that oversight functions have since relied more heavily on external public feedback rather than dedicated internal detection.
The state has requested corporate minutes, board presentations, committee charters, and internal assessment policies regarding compliance with ethical guidelines and legal risk management.
The letter gives The New York Times Company 14 days from receipt to permit inspection and copying of the demanded documents or provide a concrete production schedule, stating that failure to comply will result in a special proceeding in the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
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