Western media manufactured consent for Israel’s killing of Gaza journalists, watchdog finds

US media watchdog Fair found evidence of UK and US media delegitimising Palestinian voices

Slain Al-Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif reports near the Arab Ahli hospital in Gaza City, on 10 October 2024 (AFP)

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A report on Friday by the national media watch group Fair found that establishment media have manufactured consent for the killing of Palestinian journalists in Israel's war on Gaza.

It also concluded that establishment media overall “centered Israel’s narrative”, tried to “delegitimize pro-Palestinian sources”, and did not “contextualize the killings within the larger context of the genocide”.

In its report, Fair evaluated coverage of Israel’s targeted murder on 10 August of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Mohammed Noufal and Ibrahim Zaher; along with freelance journalists Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed al-Khalidi, in 15 well-known media outlets based primarily in the US.

They found that coverage in all 15 news outlets repeated “the same Zionist talking points that contributed to manufacturing consent for their killings”, specifically smears that the popular and respected journalist Sharif was a member of Hamas.

The outlets include The New York Times; The Los Angeles Times; The Washington Post; The Wall Street Journal; The Financial Times; ABC; CBS; NBC; CNN; Fox News; BBC; Politico; Newsweek; The Associated Press; and Reuters.

Fair found they all repeated Israel’s false allegations that Sharif was a member of Hamas masquerading as a journalist, even though this claim was found to be baseless by notable organisations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Foreign Press Association and the United Nations.

Despite this, only nine of the 15 publications published Sharif’s antemortem statement saying he had been targeted by Israel in anticipation of his killing.

“If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice”. This sentence is part of a much longer statement that was shared on Sharif’s social media accounts after his death.

Israel kills Middle East Eye journalists in double-tap strike on Gaza's Nasser Hospital

Israel led a smear campaign against Sharif for months before his death.

The New York Times, ABC, BBC, NBC, Fox, and The Wall Street Journal did not include any references to or quotes from Sharif’s final statement.

Instead, four of them - New York Times, BBC, NBC and Fox - chose to include and centre quotes from Israeli government authorities, the perpetrators behind the killing of Sharif and his colleagues.

Fair also found that only four of the 15 articles by these outlets mentioned that Israel had killed nearly 200 journalists, which relied on a CJP figure, since 7 October 2023, when the war began. The total death toll of journalists killed is cited to be as high as 273, according to Al Jazeera’s own figures.

The four publications were ABC, CNN, Politico, and The Wall Street Journal.

In addition, Fair found that none of the articles by the 15 outlets mentioned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been indicted on war crimes by the International Criminal Court, nor did they mention that there was an arrest warrant out for him for intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.

Delegitimisation

Fair also noted that western mainstream media uses “unnecessary qualifiers to delegitimize information that comes from Palestinian sources”.

It referred to the BBC’s use of “Hamas-run health ministry” instead of the Gaza Health Ministry (GHM), as well as The New York Times’ and Reuters’ use of “Hamas-run” when referring to figures from the Gaza government as a way of delegitimising the nature and extent of Israel’s killing of civilians.

These qualifiers are consistently used despite many organisations, including the medical journal The Lancet, saying that the GHM’s figures are a massive undercount.

Fair also found that western outlets showed bias when reporting on casualty numbers. It cited how The New York Times said the GHM doesn’t “distinguish between civilians and combatants”, but failed to say the same things when reporting on death counts in Israel.

Such reporting implies Israelis, whether combatants or not, are all regarded as human beings, whereas Palestinian combatants are not, despite the latter living under Israeli occupation for decades.

In addition, Al Jazeera is portrayed as a lesser media organisation because it is owned by the government of Qatar.

Israeli army unit 'tasked with smearing and targeting Palestinian journalists in Gaza'

Fair found that The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times use allegations made by Israel that Al Jazeera has ties to Hamas as the reason the Israeli government has consistently targeted Al Jazeera and not because of Al Jazeera‘s critical coverage of Israel's actions.

Fair also noted that The Financial Times was the only outlet to refer to famine in Gaza outside of quotes, while other outlets delegitimised when humanitarian organisations declared that the current situation in Gaza was a famine. Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, respectively, referred to the situation as “a hunger crisis” and “a humanitarian crisis”.

The watchdog said that most of the media outlets reported on the current situation in Gaza as if it were in a vacuum and did not explain that Israel’s atrocities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank preceded the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel.

On its website, Fair says it has been documenting criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986. It says it scrutinises media practices that marginalise public interest, minority and oppositional viewpoints.

Fair believes that structural reform is needed to break up dominant media conglomerates while establishing independent public broadcasting and promoting strong non-profit sources of information.

The Fair study came just days before Israel killed six more Palestinian journalists on Monday, including freelance photojournalist Mohamed Salama, who worked with Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye; freelance journalist Ahmed Abu Aziz, who also worked with Middle East Eye; freelance reporter Mariam Dagga who worked with several media outlets including the Associated Press; Reuters photojournalist Hussam al-Masri; freelance reporter Moaz Abu Taha; and investigative journalist Hassan Douhan.

Israel's genocide in Gaza

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