How the fog of war puts journalism in the frame
We studied media reporting on two conflicts. And we found two very different stories.
Since October 2023, the Israel-Hamas conflict has seen journalism's traditional commitment to objectivity tested. Social media and conservative media outlets have accused reporting of being biased in favor of either side, leading to a war of words between new and traditional media players. This highlights the tension between objective reporting and advocacy-oriented reporting.
In contrast, the Russian military attack on Ukraine has faced less criticism, suggesting a bias in favor of one narrative over the other. Studies have shown that people trust journalism less when they perceive it to be advocating for a particular position, and prefer news that includes a range of views. The Centre for Media Transition investigated how Australian media frames Israel-Hamas and the Russia-Ukraine conflicts.
The study found that Israeli narratives were mostly dominant in the Israel-Hamas coverage, while Palestinian narratives gained more attention as the Palestinian death toll rose. The Australian was the only outlet to consistently favor Israeli perspectives, marginalizing Palestinian narratives and linking pro-Palestinian advocacy with antisemitism.
In contrast, the Ukraine conflict saw Western and Ukrainian narratives dominate, with Russian narratives receiving almost no interpretive authority. This asymmetry in reporting downplayed the historical and geopolitical complexity of the post-Soviet foreign policy.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
