Nika Soon-Shiong, publisher of the news outlet Drop Site News, suggested she was removed from the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists after objecting to the organization’s review of its database to determine whether some individuals listed as slain journalists were actually terrorists.
“I have been informed that I’m no longer a member of the Committee to Protect Journalists board,” Soon-Shiong wrote on Monday, attaching an email she said she had sent to fellow board members expressing concern about the review.
CPJ said in a statement viewed by JNS that Soon-Shiong was not removed but had completed her standard five-year board term, which expired this month. The committee announced Soon-Shiong’s appointment to the board on June 21, 2021.
The dispute comes after CPJ announced on June 25 that it is conducting a “full review” of its database of journalists killed during Israel’s war against Hamas.
The committee “condemns in no uncertain terms the misrepresentation of combatants as journalists or media workers, or the misuse of ‘press’ insignia,” stated Jodie Ginsberg, the organization’s CEO.
The review, which CPJ expects to complete in July, follows obituaries published by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad identifying some individuals on the committee’s list of journalists as members of the terrorist groups.
CPJ said it has removed eight names from its database after determining the individuals were “combatants” for Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It also removed 12 additional names for other reasons. As of June 25, the organization said it had documented 209 journalists and media workers killed by Israel in Gaza and Israeli detention since Oct. 7, 2023.
In her letter, Soon-Shiong stated that the database review stemmed from a May 27 Washington Free Beacon article detailing anti-Israel activism by several CPJ board members, including herself.
“I request that the Board vote on whether to proceed with this effort, given the absence of a clear objective, defined scope of work, or assessment of the potential institutional risks,” Soon-Shiong wrote, arguing that CPJ lacked a clear methodology for removing names from the database.
“The proposal to exclude journalists who exhibit certain ‘behaviors and activities’ or who work for ‘state-backed propaganda outlets, militant- and designated terror-affiliated organizations’ emerged from our discussion” of the Free Beacon article, she wrote, questioning why Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives were subject to removal, while those who served in the Israel Defense Forces were not.
Soon-Shiong became publisher of Drop Site News last year. The online outlet has been widely criticized for publishing interviews with Hamas officials and frequently reporting claims from the group without apparent independent verification.
In July 2024, Meta temporarily removed a video featuring Drop Site reporter Jeremy Scahill discussing his conversations with Hamas officials, citing its policies against praising or supporting dangerous organizations.
Open Society Foundations, a philanthropy funded by George Soros, donated $250,000 to the outlet in its first months of operation to help support its Middle East coverage.
Soon-Shiong is the daughter of Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong. During the 2024 presidential campaign, she said the newspaper’s decision not to endorse then-U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was driven by Harris’s position on the Israel-Hamas war. Patrick Soon-Shiong later disputed that characterization.
