Doral, Florida - The state of Florida on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the New York Times, alleging shareholders had been hurt by an editorial bias against Israel.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in Doral on Wednesday that the New York Times' credibility had been undermined by a perceived anti-Israel bias, particularly in its coverage of Israel's actions in Gaza, which has been deemed a genocide by the UN.

According to Uthmeier, state pension holders who hold stock in the NYT have been damaged by the impact of such reporting on the company's share prices.

"Florida's more than 1.2 million public retirees are shareholders of The New York Times," Uthmeier said in a statement released on Wednesday.

"The Company itself tells investors that a perception of unreliable or biased journalism is a material risk to its most valuable asset," he said.

"We asked a straightforward question: Does the Board oversee compliance with the Company's own published standards? The Company refused to produce a single page."

The lawsuit seeks no damages and asserts no claim against the NYT, but requested internal documents so that authorities can determine whether the company had allowed its journalistic standards to be "weaponized" to serve "personal agendas."

The Florida Retirement System is one of the largest public pensions in the US. It has significant holdings of NYT stocks.

NYT spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander denied the allegations in a statement and confirmed the company would defend itself in court, declaring: "This lawsuit has no merit and was brought for an improper purpose."

"Although it is positioned as a corporate governance petition to inspect the company's books and records, it is a transparent attempt to exert agenda-driven pressure against an independent media organization, level false allegations of bias and chill journalism protected by the First Amendment."