International food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) is suspending its operations in Gaza following the death of seven of its workers in an Israeli air strike.

  • politicalcustard@beehaw.org
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    7 months ago

    There have been a couple of recent (post-October) studies into BBC coverage, the issue I raise concerning the language used in the title is consistent with its use of language elsewhere. For example, Israelis are “killed” and Palestinians “die”.

    "About 700 people have been killed in Israel since Hamas launched its attack on Saturday, with a further 500 having died in Gaza in retaliatory air strikes."
    "Some 1200 people have been killed in Israel, while more than 1000 have died in retaliatory air strikes on Gaza."
    "More than 700 people have been killed in Israel since Saturday and over 500 people have died in Gaza."
    

    Reflecting the study into online output, the openDemocracy analysis found that the phrases “murder”, “murderous”, “mass murder”, “brutal murder” and “merciless murder” were used a total of 52 times by [BBC] journalists to refer to Israeli deaths – but never in relation to Palestinian deaths.

    When I read this sort of coverage on a daily basis, I see these patterns repeated again and again, it’s a subtle reframing that many don’t notice but editors (and headline writers) at the BBC will be very aware of how they are using language. Space is not an excuse to remove the perpetrator from the picture regardless of how obvious that perpetrator might be, it is disingenuous.

    Study shows BBC ‘bias’ in reporting on Palestinian and Israeli deaths - The National