The record of the NYT

"Over the same 3-year period since August 1, 2006, however, Rich has never addressed issues related to Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands, let alone how these are directly abetted by US policies. There are occasional references to Hamas, Hezbollah, and the situation in Lebanon, but these are all incidental to whatever matter he discusses. To take but one example, Rich has written a total of 7 articles[12] where "Hamas" comes up, over his entire tenure as a Times op-ed columnist since 1994. In each of these 7 references, he brandishes Hamas as a group deserving to be targeted in the "war on terror" or else views a presumed association with Hamas as evidence of fanaticism and evil intentions, betraying a highly skewed perception of what Hamas is about or realistically capable of doing.[13] Nicholas Kristof is as reticent as Frank Rich when it comes to Israel, the Palestinians, and other Arabs nearby. His sympathies for the victims of political repression are easily aroused if these victims are in China or Darfur, but not if they are in Israel or in any of the nearby autocratic regimes allied with the US (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan). The full scope of Kristof's writing can be grasped by reading his blog, where he expands on his twice-weekly columns, adding thoughts he cannot always squeeze into an 800-word text.[14] There is a "tag list" in the main page of the blog, which tallies the number of times he has written about a particular topic. By my last check (August 31, 2009), "Darfur" tops his list (with a count of 111), followed by "Africa" (with 79), and then "China" (with 68). "Iraq" is about two-third down the list (with a count of 21), and "Israel" is the very last entry (with 14). These numbers reflect Kristof's priorities, or else his ability to write without intimidation and self-censorship. Of the 14 entries about Israel, about half are on the situation in Gaza and several of the remaining half are fending off attacks by irate readers for his presumed anti-Israel bias -- attacks that are far more virulent and numerous, proportionally, than others Kristof receives because of his writing on other topics -- which is also revealing about the audience Kristof attracts and caters to." (thanks Assaf)