BBC fails to name Israel in 50% of reporting on attacks in Gaza

The BBC failed to name Israel as the perpetrator in 50% of reported Israeli attacks on civilians in Gaza.

Other British news outlets were not much better, with Sky News and the Guardian mentioning Israel in only 54% and 55% of cases, respectively. In comparison, the International outlet Al Jazeera named Israel as the attacker in 88% of its articles.

This means that Al Jazeera explicitly names the perpetrator at nearly double the BBC’s rate.

NewsCord analysed 11,295 articles across the BBC, the Guardian, Sky News and Al Jazeera. The aim was to quantify how Western media covered Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Sanitising Palestinian deaths at the BBC

In 77% of cases, the BBC used the passive voice to report on Palestinians whom Israel murdered. Sky News did the same in 71% of articles.

One of the most prominent examples is the reporting on the murder of six-year-old Hind Rajab.

The BBC’s headline read:

Hind Rajab, 6, found dead in Gaza days after phone calls for help

But Hind wasn’t just ‘found dead’. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) murdered her, along with her family, in a “brutal act of genocide”. The IOF then fired 335 rounds at the car she was in, and killed the medics sent to save her life.

The BBC completely ignored Israel’s systematic and indiscriminate targeting of civilians in Gaza.

Similarly, when reporting on deaths in Palestine, the BBC used the phrase “according to Hamas-run health ministry” in 60% of articles, in comparison to only 1% by Al Jazeera and 17% in the Guardian.

Importantly, though, the United Nations (UN) consider the figures accurate.

The BBC said that it told complainants it:

regularly reflects that these figures are considered credible by the UN.

However, NewsCord’s analysis showed that the BBC cited the UN’s credibility regarding Hamas figures exactly once. That is 0.6% of the time.

Of course, the BBC did not apply the same rule when it reported on Iranian or Hezbollah missiles killing Israelis. It simply reported deaths as facts.

Humanisation

Additionally, NewsCord analysed how often the four news sites humanised Palestinian hostages, versus Israeli hostages. It also noted that over 3,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons without charge.

The rate of humanisation included details such as names, family and context, and it found that the BBC only humanised 29% of Palestinian hostages, compared to 58% of Israeli hostages.

This means that the BBC is humanising Israeli hostages at nearly double the rate of Palestinian hostages.

Shockingly, the BBC has never reported on various genocidal statements made by Israeli officials.

This included Yoav Gallant calling Palestinians ‘human animals’, Israel Katz stating that Gaza would not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world, and Bezalel Smotrich saying it was justified to starve two million Gazans.

Similarly, Benjamin Netanyahu referenced Amalek in relation to Gaza. This refers to a bible story in which God commands the total annihilation of Amalek, including all men, women, children, and livestock.

A pattern

The BBC’s bias against Palestine has been widely documented. As the Canary previously reported:

In a report titled BBC on Gaza–Israel: One Story, Double Standards published in June 2024, which critiqued the BBC’s coverage of the Gaza genocide between October 2023 and October 2024, the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) accused the BBC of operating under a framework of ‘double standards’ when covering the Gaza genocide, of systemic bias against Palestinians, and of applying inconsistent editorial standards when covering Israeli and Palestinian experiences of war.

At one point, the BBC dropped a piece about UK and Palestinian kids sharing poetry for ‘impartiality’ reasons – which is absolute bullshit, even for the BBC.

Since 2023, the BBC has systematically attempted to erase the experiences of Palestinians by peddling Israel’s narrative. Anyone who has been paying attention has watched the BBC’s bias play out – but now the figures from NewsCord back up what we’ve all seen.

Is there any wonder Israel continues to get away with genocide and ethnic cleansing when huge media outlets, such as the BBC, continue to whitewash its war crimes?

Feature image via HG

By HG

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