Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Israeli raids strike eight residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs; shelling reported in Ain Qana, southern Lebanon
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Another Israeli airstrike targets Beirut’s southern suburb
Saree: The operation comes in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people and in response to the aggression against Beirut’s southern suburb
Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson: The operation successfully achieved its objective, forcing millions of Israeli settlers to flee into shelters
Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson Yahya Saree: We targeted Lod Airport (Ben Gurion Airport) in the occupied Yafa area with a hypersonic ballistic missile, the “Palestine 2” type
Salam: We call on the international community to hold "Israel" accountable, halt its attacks, and ensure full withdrawal from Lebanese territory
Salam: These attacks constitute a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and UN Security Council Resolution 1701
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam: We condemn the repeated Israeli attacks against Lebanon, especially on Beirut’s southern suburb
Al Mayadeen correspondent: New Israeli airstrike targets Beirut’s southern suburb, marking the seventh strike
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: New Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb

CfMM report unveils bias in Western coverage of Gaza genocide

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM)
  • 6 Mar 2024 16:40
5 Min Read

The Centre for Media Monitoring has released its latest report, "Media Bias Gaza 2023-24," exposing noteworthy biases in Western media reporting.

  • x
  • Media's lens: Unveiling bias in Western coverage of Gaza genocide
    A projection declares The Washington Post “complicit in genocide” during a march for Gaza on a worldwide day of action for Palestine, October 12, 2023. (Photo by Allison Bailey/NurPhoto/NurPhoto via AFP)

The Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) has published its most recent report titled "Media Bias Gaza 2023-24," unveiling notable biases in Western media reporting.

In the report, significant trends in media coverage are highlighted by key findings, particularly the framing of events and unverified claims, among many other issues.

A total of 361 TV news clips were identified where the terms "beheaded" and "babies" coexisted. Nearly half of these occurrences were observed on the two right-wing British channels Talk TV (27%) and GB News (20%), while Sky News contributed to 14% of the mentioned terms. Out of the 361 instances, only 52 demonstrated any substantial challenge, rebuttal, or questioning of the claims.
 
Most TV channels strongly emphasize "Israel's right to defend itself," overshadowing Palestinian rights with a ratio of 5 to 1, a framing of events highlighted in the report.

According to CfMM's findings, TV reporting referenced Israeli perspectives almost three times more (4,311) than Palestinian ones (1,598). In online news, the difference was almost twice as much (2,983 vs. 1,737).

In broadcast TV, Israeli perspectives are referenced nearly three times more than Palestinian ones, and in online news, it's almost twice as much.

#GazaUnderAttack#Palestine pic.twitter.com/abuGaFC9cv

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 3, 2024

Regarding contextual framing, approximately 76% of online articles frame the struggle as an "Israel-Hamas war," while only 24% mention "Palestine or Palestinian," indicating a lack of context. This skewed framing perpetuated a narrative lacking essential context and failed to offer a comprehensive understanding of the struggle.

The report also highlighted the misrepresentation and undermining of the Palestinian narrative, stressing that Pro-Palestinian voices often experience misrepresentation and vilification by media outlets, perpetuating harmful stereotypes. Right-wing news channels and publications in the UK lead in misrepresenting pro-Palestinian protesters, portraying them as "antisemitic" and violent or referring to them merely as "pro-Hamas".

In further detail, the analysis of language usage in media coverage revealed a concerning pattern where emotive language disproportionately highlighted "Israeli suffering" while downplaying the staggering death toll of civilians in Gaza, which nears 40,000.

Related News

Brazil’s Lula says 'Israel' 'premeditated genocide in Gaza'

Odeh to Al Mayadeen: Broad front needed to isolate Israeli extremism

This imbalance in language usage continued to propagate a narrative that marginalized the challenges faced by Palestinians and reinforced biased perspectives, as per the report.

Dive deeper

The report delved into the connection between the ongoing Israeli aggression and Islamophobia, particularly as Islamophobic hate crimes surged by 335% since October 7. It revealed that numerous influential media personalities, senior editors, and journalists perpetuated Islamophobic stereotypes about Muslim beliefs and identity, aiming to undermine the Palestinian cause and/or advocates.

Additionally, the report identified how certain media outlets and commentators framed the struggle as a confrontation between Muslims and Jews, portraying Muslim opposition to "Israel" as "anti-Semitic". It also highlighted a hierarchy of racism in reporting on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

“In the main, Palestinians should be reported on as human beings with full unalienable rights as enjoyed by all peoples. This also necessitates how those rights have been curtailed in a forever war against them that has its origins many decades before 7 October 2023,” lead author Faisal Hanif said in the report.

On her account, Rizwana Hamid, Director for the Centre for Media Monitoring, said, “As media organizations navigate the complexities of the conflict, it is imperative to uphold principles of fairness, accuracy, and inclusivity, ensuring that all voices are heard, and all perspectives are represented.” 

In providing a foreword for the report, veteran journalist and author Peter Oborne offered his insights, stressing, “Some of the misreporting highlighted in this report stems from ignorance rather than prejudice… It also notes the counter-intuitive and highly revealing paradox that mainstream Israeli journalists have been more ready to tell the truth about the war in Gaza than their British equivalents.” 

It is worth noting that the report critically analyzed media coverage of Israeli current aggression on Gaza during the first month after October 7 (October 7 – November 7, 2023). The examination underscores notable biases and distortions in mainstream media outlets. Amid the highly polarized debate that unfolded since, it also fearlessly scrutinized the media coverage, assessing the presentation of core facts without bias.

At least 100 #Palestinians were killed in a massacre committed by Israeli occupation forces in al-Rashid Street, to the west of #Gaza City as the starved civilians were waiting in line to receive much-needed aid from convoys.

Multiple first-hand accounts confirmed that the… pic.twitter.com/QPReskB6Ho

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 1, 2024

The report, a product of extensive qualitative and quantitative analysis conducted by researchers at the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), reportedly involved a meticulous examination of a large dataset. It analyzed 176,627 television clips from more than 13 broadcasters and 25,515 news articles from over 28 UK online media websites.

The analysis focused on the framing of events, language utilization, and the representation of Palestinian voices in mainstream media. The primary objective of the report was to evaluate the degree of bias and distortion in how the current Palestinian struggle was portrayed across different media outlets.

Read next: How language used in American media facilitates genocide

  • genocide in Gaza
  • Gaza Strip
  • war on Gaza
  • Operation Al-Aqsa Flood
  • media bias
  • Western Media
  • media coverage
  • Centre for Media Monitoring
  • Gaza
War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Most Read

Lebanon's PM Nawaf Salam meets with US envoy Morgan Ortagus in Beirut on April 5, 2025 (Dalati Nohra via AP)AP)

Morgan Ortagus to exit US role in Lebanon amid policy shift

  • Politics
  • 1 Jun 2025
Spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announces a new operation against Ben Gurion Airport on May 29, 2025 (Yemeni Military Media)

Yemen announces successful hypersonic missile strike on Ben Gurion

  • Politics
  • 30 May 2025
It may well be due to the longstanding relationship between MI6 and HTS, via Inter Mediate, that Britain was the first Western country to recognise their assumption of government in Syria. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

How MI6 helped HTS seize Syria

  • Opinion
  • 31 May 2025
An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern occupied Palestine, Thursday, May 29, 2025 (AP)

Hamas rejects Witkoff ceasefire plan, says alters terms

  • Politics
  • 29 May 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Poll
Palestine

Sharp decline in international perception of 'Israel', Netanyahu: Poll

Ukrainian soldiers with the anti-drone KVS G-6, manufactured by Kvertus Technology.Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine/Facebook
US & Canada

Shift in US priorities: Drone fuzes reallocated from Kiev to CENTCOM

US Jews accuse Trump of antisemitism despite his pro-'Israel' stance
US & Canada

US Jews accuse Trump of antisemitism despite his pro-'Israel' stance

Former US President Joe Biden speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sept. 30, 2024 (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
US & Canada

Trump orders investigation into Biden’s autopen use, cognitive fitness

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS