Dr. Nika Soon-Shiong announced her removal from the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) following her intense internal opposition to a controversial new policy proposal. In an email sent to the board and later shared publicly on X (formerly Twitter), Soon-Shiong challenged an initiative aimed at stripping advocacy protections from journalists affiliated with what the organization labels “state-backed propaganda” or “terror-affiliated” organizations.

According to her letter, the internal friction intensified after right-wing media targeted Soon-Shiong for being vocal against Israeli apartheid and the genocide in Gaza.

Soon-Shiong warned the board that the new criteria selectively penalizes Palestinian media workers while ignoring major Western outlets whose reporters or editors have direct ties to the Israeli military, asking, “What should happen to outlets like The Atlantic, LA Times, or BBC where editors served in the IDF directly?”

She argued that redefining who qualifies as a legitimate journalist under political pressure “is a betrayal to our colleagues in Gaza who have faced the deadliest conflict for journalists ever recorded.”

Soon-Shiong concluded that the press freedom watchdog risks destroying its own credibility by adopting politicized definitions, asserting that CPJ “cannot credibly position itself as an objective judge of who is a legitimate journalist and what merits protection.”