NEW analysis of the BBC’s coverage of the war in Gaza has suggested the corporation has been biased in its reporting of Israeli deaths compared to Palestinian deaths.
Work by the independent media platform openDemocracy found that Israeli casualties were given proportionally more coverage than Palestinian casualties, and the language used by journalists to describe Israeli deaths was markedly different.
It also found that the Palestinian perspective of the war is “effectively absent” from the BBC’s coverage, and that reporting located the origin of the conflict in the recent actions of Hamas, rather than a decades-long struggle against Israeli occupation.
The media platform examined four weeks (October 7 to November 4) of BBC One daytime coverage of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which has so far seen more than 22,000 Palestinians killed.
It found that the phrases “murder”, “murderous”, “mass murder”, “brutal murder” and “merciless murder” were used a total of 52 times by journalists to refer to Israelis’ deaths – but never in relation to Palestinian deaths.
The same pattern was found in relation to “massacre”, “brutal massacre” and “horrific massacre” (35 times for Israeli deaths, not once for Palestinian deaths); “atrocity”, “horrific atrocity” and “appalling atrocity” (22 times for Israeli deaths, once for Palestinian deaths); and “slaughter” (five times for Israeli deaths, not once for Palestinian deaths).
These terms were used by journalists themselves to describe Israeli and Palestinian deaths and were not repeated from direct or reported statements.
We previously reported that the BBC issued an apology after a presenter described people taking part in marches in support of Palestine as “backing Hamas”.
The corporation was also forced to apologise after an “editing error” led to an incorrect translation being shown against an interview with a released Palestinian prisoner.
The translation suggested that the woman speaking had said “only Hamas cared”, when she did not appear to mention the militant group at all.
Eight journalists at the BBC previously accused the corporation of investing more effort in humanising Israeli victims compared with Palestinians and omitting key historical context in its coverage.
Claims that Israel have committed genocide have been lodged with the United Nation’s (UN) highest court by South Africa, with Israel confirming it would defend itself against the claims.
In its analysis of the BBC’s coverage, openDemocracy said “the BBC must support international law”.
The report, penned by Greg Philo and Mike Berry, added: “If claims of genocide are being made then these must be named and investigated and the actions of politicians held to account.
“For the BBC and other western media to simply repeat the propaganda of one side while denying legitimacy to the other will in the long run do nothing for the cause of peace but will simply hold back the public and political will needed to press for realistic negotiations to end the conflict.”
A BBC spokesperson said:
“Throughout our reporting on the conflict the BBC has made clear the devastating human cost to civilians living in Gaza and Israel.
“We reject the idea that our coverage can be assessed by counting particular words used on one part of our output.
“The BBC is one of the only news organisations to have journalists inside Gaza, and our journalists have been able to provide on the ground reporting, first-hand testimony and analysis on what is happening on the ground.
"This has included many stories of Palestinian victims and first-hand testimony from civilians, doctors and aid-workers in Gaza, as well as a Panorama documentary, featuring human stories from both sides.
“BBC News has also examined the history and complexities of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and continues to provide historical context and explainers throughout our coverage online, on our dedicated podcast -The Conflict – and on our radio and TV news programmes.
"BBC Verify has forensically investigated various aspects of the conflict, including viral misinformation.”
