A new report, which is the result of months of qualitative and quantitative analysis by researchers from the Centre for Media Monitoring (CFMM), has highlighted the UK media’s systematic bias in favour of Israel in its reporting on the Gaza situation. Arguably this, also shows that propaganda is still being used against the nation as an effective tool.

Propaganda which in Latin, means “to propagate” or “to sow”and in the most neutral sense, means to disseminate or promote particular ideas, has earned its bad name due to its use as a tool by repressive regimes to glorify their leaders, motivate their citizens and demonise their enemies. (source).

Put simply, “propaganda” is the term for the the “catch-all” for suspicious rhetoric and is “the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandists.”

The propagandists have been identified as “large organizations or groups” who aim “to win over the public for special interests through a massive orchestration […] and they “conceal both their purpose and lack of sound supporting reasons.” (source).
Usually though we have been able to easily identify the MSMs use of propaganda, the propagandists and the reasons behind its use.

This is particularly due to having experienced and observed the disseminated communication of lies, distortion, deceit, manipulation, mind control, and brainwashing that successfully shaped the perceptions of the masses during the Covid era and seeing usually rational people wearing facemasks and getting jabbed for a non existent virus.

Therefore, now it is remarkable that MSM still has that ability to effectively alter perceptions, but this time the biased propaganda is now it is doing a job on the individuals perception of the Israel/ Gaza situation and somehow they have convinced the masses that they are reporting truthfully for a change.

MSM however has been guilty of publishing “unverified” stories and even downright debunked lies and tropes all which are being repeated verbatim by the telly watching masses. Their reporting has been misleading and dangerous and can have grave consequences, according to Declassified UK who say that there has been a 365% increase in Islamophobic incidents in the UK since the 7th of October, with many involving people who are being targeted for their support of Palestine.

It seems absurd that the MSM are still able to skew perceptions in this way causing division and further polarisation within the nation. They have managed to convince the telly watchers that innocent people are the enemy and they are siding with those in power. WHY on earth are people allowing themselves to be lied to by still watching the telaLIEvison sets and reading the MSM newspapers?

The globalists, the warmongers and their soulless minions are the ones that benefit from propaganda which serves only to further their own agenda, certainly not the lives of the “useless eaters.” Enabling their continued use of their tool, their weapon of continued destruction, propaganda consumers are scoring own goals, batting for the wrong team and all similar analogies, meaning they are siding with the enemy!

It is not rational and neither is the advocating of the blanket bombing of innocent civilians, nor is it humane, yet some have been convinced it is.

This is as a result of the dangerous reporting. As is the MSM use of certain overly used tropes “The publishing of such content fuels the perception that opposition to Israel, especially from the Muslim community, is part of an inherent antisemitism that characterises Islamic values.” writes Hamza Ali Shah for Declassified UK. who has reported about the findings of the study below.

U.K. MEDIA IS ON ISRAEL’S SIDE.

by Hamza Ali Shah

Declassified UK has featured a study conducted by researchers at the Centre for Media Monitoring (CFMM) titled ‘Media Bias Gaza 2023-24’, which they say serves as a critical examination of media coverage surrounding Israel’s war on Gaza in the first month after 7 October (7 October – 7 November 2023), highlighting significant biases and distortions in mainstream media outlets. 

Given the intense polarised debate that took place since that fateful day, the report scrutinises, without fear or favour, media coverage and the extent to which core facts were presented. 

The report is a result of months of qualitative and quantitative analysis by researchers at the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM). The report scrutinised a vast array of data analysing 176,627 television clips from over 13 broadcasters and 25,515 news articles from over 28 UK online media websites. The data was analysed for the framing of events, language utilisation, and the representation of Palestinian voices in mainstream media. The report aimed to assess the extent of bias and distortion in the portrayal of the conflict by various media outlets. 

The media’s role in the face of Israel’s aggression in Gaza – and plausible genocide – should be to responsibly report the news, validate facts, hold all powers to equal account and paint an accurate picture of events.

But whether this is actually so is the focus of a new, exhaustive report by the Muslim Council of Britain’s Centre for Media Monitoring. It reveals Britain’s worst kept secret: the systematic bias of the mainstream media in favour of Israel when it comes to reporting on its onslaught in Gaza.

The report analyses 176,627 television clips from over 13 broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 4. 

It also scrutinises 25,515 news articles from over 28 UK online media websites including the Guardian, Times, Express and Telegraph, between 7 October 2023 and 7 November 2023. 

The data was analysed for the framing of events, use of language and representation of Palestinian voices.

It finds that 76% of online articles frame Israel’s aggression as the “Israel-Hamas war” – rather than a war on Gaza – and that over 70% of the terms atrocities, slaughter and massacre in broadcast media were used exclusively in reference to attacks against Israelis. 

A notable absence of Palestinian voices is also detected: In TV reporting, Israeli perspectives have been referenced almost three times more (4,311) than Palestinian ones (1,598).

‘Right to self-defence’

Also identified is the willingness of many broadcasters to emphasise Israel’s supposed right to defend itself in Gaza. 

But as Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has said, Israel cannot claim the right of “self-defence” under international law because Gaza is a territory that it occupies.

Yet across TV, the insistence on this Israeli “right” is mentioned on 1,482 occasions. By contrast, mentions of the right of Palestinians to resist Israel’s onslaught in Gaza amount to just 278. 

The report shows that the broadcaster with the highest percentage of mentions of any rights associated with the Palestinians was Al Jazeera’s English channel. 

For online media, Israel’s right to defend itself is mentioned 963 times. This point is featured six times more than any rights for Palestinian people which only receive 163 mentions.

Occupied Gaza

As well as the uneven focus on Israel, there is a pattern of omitting key context for audiences. 

The report finds that in one month, out of over 98,500 mentions of the term Gaza, there were only 26 instances of the words “occupied Gaza” on broadcast TV channels. 

On 9 October, Labour’s shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Gaza is not occupied by Israel.” This was not corrected by her interviewer, Nick Robinson.

The difference in how deaths are described on both sides is also noted, with less value seemingly attributed to Palestinian lives.

In online articles, phrases such as “Palestinians were killed” occur 665 times while there are 1,195 mentions (55% more) in reference to “Israelis killed”. 

This is despite Palestinians suffering disproportionately after 7 October following an intense campaign of indiscriminate bombardment by the sophisticated Israeli military.

One example that captures this contrast in how deaths are reported is found in the Times one month on from 7 October. This touched on how “Israelis marked a month since Hamas killed 1,400 people and kidnapped 240, starting a war in which 10,300 Palestinians are said to have died”. [emphasis added]

This is not a tendency confined to those on the right wing of the press spectrum. On 17 October, instead of saying Israel was denying Palestinians water in Gaza via its total siege, the Guardian explained that Palestinians were beginning to “dehydrate to death”. 

Readers are thus often left guessing about the perpetrators and the causes when Palestinians are killed.

Unverified claims

The report also finds that unverified claims made by Israeli officials or representatives are not treated tentatively but rather regularly considered as facts. As Declassified has reported, Israel’s fake news about Hamas beheading babies was widely reported as fact in the UK mainstream media.

The Centre for Media Monitoring report finds that, of the 361 TV clips where the term “beheaded” and “babies” was found, only 52 were subject to rebuttals or questioning. 

This is despite some journalists in Israel reporting just days after the allegation that it was unconfirmed. 

On broadcast TV, 29 mentions were made of “burning babies” or “babies being burned”. Israeli officials were able to make such claims with little pushback. 

Israeli spokesperson Mark Regev was asked in a Sky News interview about the evidence that Hamas was using medical facilities and ambulances as command hubs. He said “they are the people who burn babies alive”. The images which form the basis of the claim are yet to be independently verified.

Anti-Palestinian views

Having dehumanising or aggressively anti-Palestinian views are also no obstacle to platforming Israeli interviewees nor are incendiary comments on air often objected to, the report finds. 

Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, is found to have been platformed or referenced 44 times by broadcasters in the month after 7 October 2023. Her history of denying the occurrence of the 1948 Nakba and advocating for Jewish supremacy over the land of Palestine is never raised. 

The report notes that on 9 October Hotovely repeatedly stated on Channel 4 News that Gaza was not occupied by Israel. Her false claim was left unchallenged.

The report also reveals the unabashed Islamophobia that laces much of the commentary on Israel’s aggression and the dishonest framing of the situation as a conflict between Muslims and Jews. GB News and Talk TV are highlighted as repeat offenders in this regard. 

GB News panellist Leo Kearse accused “a lot of Muslims, a lot of woke leftists” of supporting or equivocating with Hamas.

On the Rupert Murdoch owned TalkTV, writer and historian Rafe-Haydel Mankoo went on an incendiary rant against Muslims and their beliefs declaring that “for many Muslims hatred of Jews is motivated by religion far more than politics”. 

He proceeded to add “the hatred of Jews infects much of the Muslim world.” These inflammatory claims were not challenged by the TalkTV hosts.

Anti-semitism

Sections of the press also engaged in such practices. The report points to an article in the Daily Express where Moataz Khalil, an Egyptian-born journalist in London, claims he was taught to hate Jews in his mosque in Egypt.

The publishing of such content fuels the perception that opposition to Israel, especially from the Muslim community, is part of an inherent antisemitism that characterises Islamic values. 

This is a dangerous and misleading trope that can have grave consequences: there’s been a 365% increase in Islamophobic incidents in the UK since 7 October, with many involving people being targeted for their support of Palestine.

Ultimately, the report points to “significant biases” and “distortions” when it comes to media coverage of Israel. 

Commenting on its wider conclusions, Rizwana Hamid, director of the Centre for Media Monitoring, emphasises that “it is imperative to uphold principles of fairness, accuracy, and inclusivity, ensuring that all voices are heard, and all perspectives are represented.”

The report makes recommendations that would improve media coverage. One is that Israeli lives should not be prioritised over Palestinian lives. If the number of Palestinians “killed” is greater than Israelis “killed” then the larger number should lead the headline or story. 

Additionally, the report emphasises that when Palestinians are killed, the perpetrators should be identified. Reporting on Israeli claims in Gaza should be referenced with a caveat when they have not been verified by an independent source.

Source: HAMZA ALI SHAH Declassified Uk