Ashley Rindsberg

Early life and education

Ashley Rindsberg graduated from Cornell University with a degree in philosophy and a BA in science and technology studies, focusing on the philosophy of science and innovation theory.

Career

Rindsberg has taught and tutored in writing. In 2001, Rindsberg began working with the History of Recent Science and Technology Project at the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology at MIT. This was a project to digitize the printed archive at the Cornell Center for Materials Science.

In May 2003, he was working with the Internet Archive on their bookmobile project. By that August, he was in Alexandria to help build one for Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Rindsberg is a contributor to PragerU. Rindsberg announced in October 2024 that he was joining the blog Pirate Wires as a senior editor. In November 2024, Rindsberg wrote articles for the blog about Wikipedia and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Rindsberg has published articles accusing Wikipedia of bias, for example in its coverage of the shooting of Charlie Kirk. In September 2025, Stephen Harrison wrote in Slate: "Like much of Rindsberg's work, the point isn't to provide information to readers about what's happening on Wikipedia, but to stoke further outrage for attention."

Books

''Tel Aviv Stories'' (2011)

After moving to Tel Aviv, Rindsberg published his first book, Tel Aviv Stories, in 2011. The work is a collection of seven fictional short stories based on the people he met while wandering the city's underbelly at night. The Jerusalem Post described Rindsberg's writing as "measured and inviting", with the book displaying a "depth of feeling." Naomi Firestone-Teeter, CEO of the Jewish Book Council, added the book to her recommending reading.

''The Gray Lady Winked'' (2021)

In 2021, Rindsberg wrote about alleged misreporting by The New York Times in his book The Gray Lady Winked: How The New York Times Misreporting, Distortions & Fabrications Radically Alter History. He said, while reading a footnote in William L. Shirer's classic work The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, that he learned that "on the eve of the outbreak of the Second World War, The New York Times reported that Poland had invaded Germany", rather than the Nazi invasion of Poland as happened. (In fact, Shirer had simply noted that the Times and other newspapers had reported in their September 1, 1939, issues on the Gleiwitz incident and similar border events later known to have been staged by Germany. The Times story about the supposed skirmishes, titled "Border Clashes Increase", ran on the bottom of page three and was attributed to what they described as Germany's "semi-official news agency". Another story referred to by Rindsberg, "Hitler Gives Word" by foreign correspondent Otto D. Tolischus, described at length various German claims and proclamations and was one of many stories about the conflict on the first page. Overall, the banner headline across page one read "German Army Attacks Poland; Cities Bombed, Ports Blockaded; Danzig Is Accepted Into Reich".) In any case, Rindsberg said he was inspired to write on the history of The Times mistakes and the ramifications thereof, accusing the paper of "manufacturing false narratives that serve the paper's political interests" in his book.

Max Hunder wrote in the Kyiv Post that the "main body of his work is factual and well-researched and can be read as a reasonable case for the prosecution against the journalistic mistakes" of the New York Times. However, Hunder notes the book's preface was written by controversial professor Mark Crispin Miller, which Rindsberg says he included because the book was about media narratives. In the Times of Israel, journalist Sheldon Kirshner wrote "Rindsberg's sweeping indictment of the Times seems unfair and essentially wrong. The Times has hurtled off the rails on a few unfortunate occasions, as he shows, but it remains the gold standard in contemporary journalism."

Other works

In 2019, he was working on In The Heart of the Jungle, a novel that drew from his own homes and travels around the world.

Personal life

In the mid-2000s, he moved to Tel Aviv, Israel, where he was living as of 2019. , he was married to a Londoner.

He is Jewish.

References

References

1. (21 May 2003). "Computer Systems Laboratory Colloquium: 4:15PM, Wednesday, May 21, 2003: About the speaker".
2. "Ashley Rindsberg".
3. Harrison, Stephen. (2025-09-17). "Why Right-Wing Outlets Attacked Wikipedia After Charlie Kirk's Shooting". Slate.
4. (2011-03-08). "JBC Bookshelf: Expanded Edition". [[Jewish Book Council]].
5. Rindsberg, Ashley. (2021). "The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times's Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History". Midnight Oil Publishers.
6. Shirer, William L.. (1990). "The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany". Simon and Schuster Paperbacks.
7. Wireless to the New York Times. (September 1, 1939). "Border Clashes Increase". [[The New York Times]].
8. Tolischus, Otto D.. (September 1, 1939). "Hitler Gives Word". [[The New York Times]].
9. (September 1, 1939). "Front page". The New York Times.
10. (2021-05-31). "'The Gray Lady Winked' takes on the New York Times". [[Kyiv Post]].
11. Kirshner, Sheldon. "The Blogs: The Gray Lady Winked".
12. (2005-05-01). "Drive to put in a good word". [[The Guardian]].
13. (2011-06-23). "Street talk". [[The Jerusalem Post]].
14. (2014-09-09). "Tel Aviv Stories: Life, Death, and Love in Israel's Unholy City".
15. (2019-06-19). "Ashley Rindsberg is the American Novelist". [[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]].
16. (2021-05-14). "Journalist Ashley Rindsberg discusses how errors at the NYT can distort reality for readers". [[Nexstar Media Group]].
17. (2022-08-18). "The Times' credibility problem". [[National Post]].
18. (2022-12-05). "Jewish Life Is Cheap".
19. Rindsberg, Ashley. (2024-10-14). "I'm really excited to announce that I've joined @PirateWires as Senior Editor.".
20. (2024-11-03). "Wikipedia in Arabic: A hotbed for bigotry, misinformation, and bias - investigative report". [[The Jerusalem Post]].
21. (2024-12-12). "Wikipedia suspends pro-Palestine editors coordinating efforts behind the scenes". [[The Jerusalem Post]].
22. "Internet Archive Bookmobile". [[Internet Archive]].