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.

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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.

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