Since October 7, 2023, deficiencies in Western media coverage of the Gaza conflict have become increasingly apparent. However, this event Not new and are deeply rooted in historical and cultural contexts.
Journalists’ biases and biases, the nature of professional media culture, and the use of specific framing around certain topics do not change with new developments. Rather, these trends are often reinforced, especially during major events that draw significant attention to long-running conflicts.
innumerable reports And studies in recent months have highlighted a recurring issue: Western media has To present an Israeli perspective while minimizing or marginalizing the Palestinian narrative.
This pattern of coverage reflects a long-standing bias that has shaped how this decades-old conflict is portrayed.
One of the main factors that characterize this issue is the source of news we consume.
Prejudices and frames are intertwined
While international journalists Israel While the atrocities committed there may be widely reported, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza often receives less in-depth coverage.
The Absence of international journalists on the ground creates An imbalance, with the suffering of Palestinian citizens Underreported Compared to Israeli citizens.
In addition to the lack of live coverage, relying solely on secondhand sources and the vast online information space keeps journalists out of touch with reality. It can trap a journalistic narrative in a subcultural bubble of prejudice or nationalism.
While the digital landscape is saturated with videos and news from conflict zones, the proliferation of fake news and disinformation makes many of these sources unreliable. Verification of such materials is laborious and time-consuming.
This underscores the need for major international media outlets to have correspondents on the ground.
Reporting from within conflict zones can help reveal lesser-known aspects of a situation, broadening the scope of coverage and drawing on a wider array of sources.
European bias
In the absence of on-ground reporting, the selection of news and sources becomes even more critical. An analysis of Western media coverage of the conflict shows that even this phase of news production is compromised.
Upday, the news aggregation app owned by Axel Springer, Europe’s largest German media group, has instructed its staff to prioritize the Israeli perspective while downplaying Palestinian civilian casualties.
Internal documents obtained by Intercept The company’s coverage of the Gaza war reveals that it leans heavily toward pro-Israeli sentiments.
A comprehensive examination of Western media coverage supports this finding.
A recent report by the Center for Media Monitoring analyzed Around 180,000 video clips from British and international television channels, as well as 26,000 news articles from British media websites.
The report found that the British media generally adhered to responsible reporting practices, but small-scale studies suggest that Israeli voices and grievances are consistently given more weight than those of Palestinians.
This bias is not limited to the British media.
Italian journalism, for example, has long shown a similar tendency to frame the Middle East—in particular Israel – in a special light. This pattern was well established even before the October 7 attacks, and has changed little since.
The Italian media case
A Study in how Israel As depicted in the Italian media between 2019 and 2021 – before the current increase – it highlights that Israel Historically framed in a particular way, as we see today in the conflict with Hamas.
Research, which is in the process of being published, is part of the project.Hidden antisemitism and the communication skills of criminal lawyers and journalists“, established by the European Union.
It analyzed Facebook posts from major Italian newspapers before and after COVID-19, focusing on the relationship between historical and cultural factors and how issues such as elections, conflict and migration were framed.
The study examined three newspapers-Corriere della Sera, La Stampaand La Republica— and found significant differences in how each approached the subject.
Both Corriere della Sera (62 percent) and La Stampa (67 percent) focused primarily on national and international politics, with a heavy emphasis on elections, political disputes, and immigration issues.
A significant portion of their coverage – more than 32 percent – focused on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In contrast, articles were shared through Facebook La Republica Show a more rigorous journalistic agenda, focusing on the military and political dynamics of the Palestinian conflict.
Its articles often include war-related stories, political statements, and military threats, such as headlines.Israel: Rockets fired from Gaza and “Gaza: 430 rockets fired; United States: Israel You have the right to defend yourself.”
Stories in La Republica A striking similarity to those found in Italian media coverage following the October 7 attacks is how media outlets highlight the tendency to return to familiar frames and themes during times of crisis.
This cyclical nature of crisis coverage, where certain topics are constantly recycled, creates a sense of narrative inertia, where long-established biases are perpetuated rather than challenged.
Unbalanced stories
The Italian media, like most of its counterparts across Europe, often presents a binary narrative when covering it. Israel.
Israel Characterized as a “victim” of history, deserving of sympathy for its role in major historical events such as the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, it is portrayed as a “military and political power” whose actions are justified by its democratic values and the constant threats it faces.
This dual narrative is positively skewed in Israel’s favor, mainly because of Italy’s historical sensitivity to issues such as the Holocaust, given its own experience under fascism.
However, this framing has increasingly polarized public opinion and political debate, with some factions more closely aligned with supporters.Israel stances, while others call for greater empathy for the Palestinians.
Since 2019, Western media – including Italian journalism – have overwhelmingly adopted an Israeli perspective in their coverage of the conflict.
However, this bias was temporarily disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, when conspiracy theories, misinformation, and social insecurity temporarily shifted the media’s focus.
Criticism of Netanyahu’s handling of the pandemic provided some balance to the coverage, but it was a brief exception to a much longer trend of pro-Israel Framing.
Importance of method
Journalism’s challenges in the digital age are more complex than ever. While good intentions and honest efforts are necessary, they are not sufficient to ensure accurate and balanced reporting.
As Walter Lippmann argued in a seminal writing, public opinion (1922), the key to good journalism lies not in the objectivity of individual journalists, but in the methods they employ.
A unified intellectual method based on rigorous standards of checks and balances can bring journalism closer to the ideal of objectivity.
In the context of the Gaza conflict, applying this scientific approach to journalism will be important in shaping future narratives.
Only by adopting more rigorous methods of reporting, with a commitment to representing a diverse range of voices, can the media hope to overcome the biases that have long plagued its coverage of this complex and enduring conflict.
Giacomo Buoncompagni, PhD, is a research fellow in the sociology of cultural and communication processes at the University of Florence, where he teaches communication and health. He is also a member of the ITSTIME Research Center (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan). Her primary research areas include journalism and new media studies, emergency communication, online forms of discrimination, science communication, and the crisis of expert knowledge.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360 information™.