Major U.S. papers heavily skewed opinion coverage towards Israeli and U.S. perspectives in the days after the October 7th attacks.
by Julie Hollar, FAIR
At the New York Times and Washington Post, despite efforts to include Palestinian voices, opinion editors have skewed the Gaza debate toward an Israel-centered perspective, dominated by men and, among guest writers, government officials.
In the first two months of the current Gaza crisis, the Times featured the crisis on its op-ed pages almost twice as many times as the Post (122 to 63). But while both papers did include a few strong pro-Palestinian voices—and both seemed to make an effort to bring Palestinian voices close to parity with Israeli voices—their pages leaned heavily toward a conversation dominated by Israeli interests and concerns.
That was due in large part due to their stables of regular columnists, who tend to write from a perspective aligned with Israel, if not always in alignment with its right-wing government. As a result, the viewpoints readers were most likely to encounter on the opinion pages of the two papers were sympathetic to, but not necessarily uncritical of, Israel.
Many opinion pieces at the Times, for instance, mentioned the word “occupation,” offering some context for the current crisis. However, very few at either paper went so far as to use the word “apartheid”—a term used by prominent human rights groups to describe Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
Recent Posts
‘Unconstitutional. Unethical. Authoritarian.’ ICE Bars Millions Of Immigrants From Bond Hearings
Take Action Now One watchdog said the new policy “seems like a blatant attempt to stop them from exercising their right to due process.”……
Americans Are Not Nearly Alarmed Enough About Climate Change
Take Action Now Americans still don’t comprehend how imminent, dangerous, and far-reaching the threat is—and journalists are partly to blame.By…
The IRS Is Building A Vast System To Share Millions Of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE
Take Action Now ProPublica has obtained the blueprint for the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security…
Israel’s Sudden Assault On Syria Is Unchecked Aggression
Take Action Now Jerusalem is bombing Damascus and threatening al-Sharaa’s rule, while Washington was hoping to help the nascent government on…