The report says 76 percent of online articles framed the conflict as an "Israel-Hamas war" and only 24 percent mentioned "Palestine/Palestinian," indicating a lack of context. / Photo: Getty Images
"Significant biases" have been evident in the British media over its coverage of Gaza since October 7, with "emotive language" describing Israelis as victims of attacks 11 times more than Palestinians, according to a report.
The report Media Bias Gaza 2023-24, published on Wednesday, exposed "significant biases in media coverage" in the UK concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), an arm of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).
The lengthy study revealed that most British TV channels overwhelmingly promote “Israel's right to defend itself,” overshadowing Palestinian rights by a ratio of five to one.
"In broadcast TV, Israeli perspectives were referenced almost three times more than Palestinian ones. In online news, it was almost twice as much," it noted.
The report also said the media used “emotive language” to describe Israelis as victims of attacks 11 times more than Palestinians, while 76 percent of online articles framed the conflict as an "Israel-Hamas war" and only 24 percent mentioned "Palestine/Palestinian," indicating a lack of context.
Misrepresentation of pro-Palestinian voices
There were 361 TV news clips where the terms "beheaded" a nd "babies" were found and almost 50 percent of these were on the right-wing British channels Talk TV (27 percent) and GB News (20 percent), with Sky News accounting for 14 percent, said the report, which scrutinised a vast array of data analysing 176,627 television clips from over 13 broadcasters and 25,515 news articles from over 28 UK online media websites.
The study also found that TV reporting of Israeli perspectives was referenced almost three times more (4,311) than Palestinian ones (1,598).
In online news, it was almost twice as much (2,983 versus 1,737).
Downplaying Palestinian casualties
On language usage, the study showed that media coverage highlighted a concerning trend where emotive language "disproportionately highlighted Israeli suffering while downplaying Palestinian casualties."
It also examined the intersection between the crisis and Islamophobia, especially as anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 335 percent since October 7.
"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,” said Faisal Hanif, the lead author of the report.
Rizwana Hamid, the director of CfMM, said: "As media organisations 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."
Israel's war on Gaza
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed nearly 1,200 people.
More than 30,700 Palestinians have since been killed and over 72,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85 percent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 percent of the besieged Palestinian enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
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