An analysis published by RFI demonstrates that news of the war on Gaza is slowly vanishing from large French media screens, particularly the daily 8 pm prime-time news bulletin on channels TF1, France 2, and M6, and the runtime given for the matter is shocking.

Media anthropology researcher Celia Chirol, the first person to study French coverage of the events, said, “This is a real breach of the duty to provide information,” adding, “Of the 20 news programs analyzed from 8-14 January, only 29 seconds of airtime were devoted to Gaza and the fate of the Palestinians.” 

Chirol described this lack of news on Gaza and updates on reports from Palestine as the "invisibility" of Palestinians, as news on the MeToo movement in French cinema and Jennifer Lopez's latest movie were seen as more important.

Arrêt Sur Images (Freeze-Frame), a show that looks into media biases and the impact of media on public perception, found results like Chirol's.

From February 4 to 15, the show denounced news broadcasts on TF1 and France 2 after discovering that only five minutes were given to speak on Gaza during 30 hours of airtime and 46 news bulletins.

Another shocking revelation showed that there were no French news channels that provided a comprehensive toll of the number of deaths in Gaza during that period, since coverage only zoomed in on the captives, several of whom are French, and announcements from "Israel's" cabinet.

Read more: Top CNN journalists call out CNN for 'Israel' bias: The Intercept

Excuses, excuses

French media watchdog Acrimed conducted its own analysis of how the French media has framed the war, saying it “may seem paradoxical at first glance, but silence is part of the media noise, and what is kept silent is no less interesting than what is said,”

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Its statement was released as it documented a “process of marginalization” of the besieged Gaza Strip and of Palestinians.

Media sociologist Jean-Marie Charon told RFI that "exhaustion" inevitably sets in during a major event and “It’s a fairly classic phenomenon that we find particularly in situations of war or crisis."

Charon claimed that the war in the Middle East is way more complex than the war in Ukraine which still makes it in the headlines and justifies that by saying the French may feel more engaged in Ukraine because they are geographically closer to it.

The media coverage in France of the war on Gaza, as proven by studies, has been on a decline for the past 20 years.

Charles Enderlin, "Israel" correspondent for France 2 between 1981 and 2015, told La Revue des Médias online media industry magazine that the fear of an "extreme backlash" from either party may be the blame, as Pascal Boniface, director of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, says.

Read next: How language used in American media facilitates genocide

"France is in the Western camp, and Israel is a part of that," he said, noting, "And this is very visible in the media."

Media Bias against Gaza

A recent Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) report titled "Media Bias Gaza 2023-24," unveiled 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).

#France has been under fire for its weapons sales to "Israel" as it has been accused of aiding the Israeli occupation in its ongoing genocide in #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/a2aTdxdqWY

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