The State Board of Administration of Florida, which manages the state’s public pension system, and a conservative think tank have filed a lawsuit against The New York Times. They are seeking internal materials to determine whether the newspaper’s board has permitted editorial coverage that they allege is biased against Israel.

The two organizations are shareholders in the newspaper’s parent company. Florida’s pension fund reported approximately $235.7 billion in assets under management as of August 31.

A petition filed in New York state court in Manhattan points to what it describes as a series of factual inaccuracies in Times coverage of various issues. The filing argues that these examples support a reasonable inference that the company’s board allowed journalistic standards to be “weaponized within ​the company to serve the personal agendas of unchecked editors.”

The State Board of Administration of Florida, which administers the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund, and the National Center for Public Policy Research say their goal is not to interfere with the newspaper’s editorial decisions. Instead, they say they want assurances that the board has implemented appropriate safeguards to ensure the Times adheres to its own editorial standards and prevents “biased and unreliable” reporting.

A spokesperson for The New York Times did not immediately provide a comment.

The lawsuit partly relies on allegations from a former Times newsroom employee who was not identified publicly. The former employee reportedly worked at the newspaper for approximately 10 years and said she had raised concerns about what she viewed as anti-Israel bias as early as 2019, several years before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war.

The petition says the Times dismissed the former employee’s repeated complaints about what she described as a broad culture of anti-Israel bias. According to the filing, a human resources representative at one point told her to “go find a place whose values align with yours.”

The former employee also alleged that there was resistance within the newsroom to connecting Gaza’s health ministry with Hamas, which controls the ministry, and to describing Hamas attackers as “terrorists.”

She further alleged that newsroom employees rejected video footage because its source was considered “pro-Israel,” were instructed to use the word “genocide” when referring to Israel, and dismissed praise of Adolf Hitler made by a Gaza-based freelancer as “just some jokes.”

The Florida State Board of Administration is overseen by three trustees, including Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier. The agency manages retirement assets for more than 1.2 million members and beneficiaries.

Uthmeier’s office, the National Jewish Advocacy Center, which represents the SBA and the National Center for Public Policy Research did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“The question is not whether The New York Times has the right to publish controversial journalism. Of course ⁠it does,” Steve Milloy, executive director of the think tank’s Free Enterprise Project, said in a statement. “The question is whether the company is actually following the safeguards it tells its readers and investors are essential ​to producing accurate and trustworthy journalism.”