https://arab.news/y8hfe
Israel’s war on Palestinians from the outset has been fought in the media, and even at a more aggressive level since October 2023. Israel has poured huge resources into its propaganda drive, to persuade particularly Western powers that its war and actions were justified. It has denied journalists access to Gaza, and killed over 185 Palestinian media workers in the enclave in this period.
Few media networks have been under more sustained Israeli assault than the BBC. Its global reach of 450 million people puts it in the front line of Israeli government efforts. It parades its reputation for impartiality, but as a new data-driven report published last week highlights, when it comes to Palestinians this is far from the case. Some argue the BBC has become complicit in Israel’s war crimes. The Gaza coverage has been like walking on eggshells, the BBC refusing to call out what is going on. The abundant use of the passive voice where the party committing the crime is not identified is a notable feature.
The report from the Center for Media Monitoring, a Muslim Council of Britain project, examined the BBC’s coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza primarily between 7 Oct. 7, 2023 and Oct. 6, 2024. For this 12-month window, a total of 3,873 articles and 32,092 broadcast segments were analyzed using AI and human verification.
