‘Killed by who?': Gaza coverage in UK media under fire

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - British mainstream media, which has come under the spotlight many times for its biased coverage of Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7 last year, has come under fire yet again over the Israeli killing of newborn babies in the Gaza Strip last month.

Media ethics have taken center stage once again since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, with many criticizing mainstream media as Israeli officials and supporters continue to make controversial remarks on the catastrophic situation in Gaza, where the death toll has climbed to over 40,700.

Faisal Hanif, a media analyst at the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), told Anadolu that coverage of Gaza has several noticeable features, including instances of misleading and factually incorrect information.

Last month, newborn twins were killed in an Israeli attack in the besieged enclave as their father went to collect their birth certificates.

The four-day-old twins, born in Deir al-Balah, were killed in an airstrike on their parents’ apartment in central Gaza.

However, some mainstream media outlets, including the BBC and Sky News, preferred not to mention "Israeli attacks" in the headlines of their posts on social media, triggering a harsh backlash from many users, asking "Killed by who?"

"The coverage of Gaza has several noticeable features. There have been instances of misleading and factually incorrect information being published throughout the last 10 months," said Hanif.

He noted that some commentators still refer to the claim that the Palestinian group Hamas "beheaded babies," which has been debunked as a fabrication.

Hanif pointed out that when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to this in his speech before the US Congress in July, the BBC reported this verbatim, without adding the necessary context for readers that this was not in fact true and had been found by investigative journalists to be a fabrication.

He said "the omission of information" is also a noticeable feature when it comes to Gaza coverage by the British mainstream media, adding that headlines are an example of this, especially when Israel is the party which is attacking or doing the killing.

"Often, we have seen this is not mentioned, whereas in the case with Ukraine and Russia, the Russians are clearly identified as the party which is doing the killing," he noted, criticizing not only the media but also wider parties, including politicians who defend Ukraine against Russian attacks while failing to take a similar stance when it comes to Gaza.

"Many readers have noticed this double standard from some of the most reputable publishers and news outlets," said Hanif.

He said that language or the selective use of it is "a major problematic area" and is revealing the biases which news outlets hold.

"The way Oct. 7 is described with emotive and alarming terms such as ‘brutal,’ ‘barbaric’ and ‘slaughter’ is in stark contrast with the murder of over 40,000 Gazans, which is sometimes little more than a footnote in mentions or described as ‘unfortunate,’" he added.

The Media Bias Gaza 2023-24 report, published by the CfMM in March, exposed "significant biases in media coverage" in the UK concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as it showed that British media described Israelis as victims of attacks 11 times more than Palestinians.

Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 40,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 94,100 others, according to local health authorities.

The blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.