Media Coverage of Children in Gaza During Israel / Gaza Conflict of 2008-2009

On Dec. 27, 2009, Israel began a 22-day attack on the Gaza Strip in response to rockets and mortars fired by Hamas (Gaza Strip). By the time both sides unilaterally declared a ceasefire on Jan. 18, at least 1,300 Palestinians were dead, 437 of them children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The outcry from humanitarian organizations, such as The United Nations Children's Fund, coincided with an increase in news coverage of children in Gaza.

This is a look at how Gaza children were covered during the conflict by seven media organizations: The New York Times, Al Jazeera, the Jerusalem Post, CNN, BBC, Fox News and MSNBC.

A study of media coverage of Palestinian children in 2004 by Aqtash et al. found that Palestinian children were often portrayed in conjuncture with psychological distress or violence, even as many of the issues affecting them go underreported. My analysis of more than 40 stories from seven sources found similar results. Originally, a few other foreign news sources were also considered, but these were eventually excluded because of their sparse or nonexistent coverage of children in Gaza. Even a major network, Fox News, had no stories focused on children in Gaza that I could find. The stories I did find revolved mainly around the children as victims, in need of either psychological or medical help. Except for a few stories about the children returning to school (Bronner), other issues affecting them were rarely covered.

Coverage by Al Jazeera and the Jerusalem Post seemed the most agenda-driven. The Al Jazeera website showed lots of bloody, horrific footage of injured Palestinian children, clearly aimed at provoking outrage from viewers. The Jerusalem Post hardly covered injured Palestinian children at all in 2009: its coverage mostly encompassed a couple paragraph blaming the children's deaths on Hamas' tactic of using civilian human shields (Katz). The Post also reported about a 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Palestinian fire (Lazaroff et al.). Both newspapers used militant, patriotic language. While the children's fear was a big theme in U.S. coverage, Al Jazeera mostly ran stoic, defiant quotes from Palestinian children (Cairo, Gaza children). In a gruesome video, a young boy who had been badly burned and blinded by a white phosphorus attack said, "I am content. I fear no one, only my Lord...I tell the Israelis it's either us or them" (Cairo). Compare this to a more typical Western video story from CNN: a young girl cries and says, "I am afraid" (Robertson). Both videos seem to present the expected image to the presumed audiences of Al Jazeera and CNN.

Western news sources and Al Jazeera had clearly different standards for how much blood and horror they allowed on screen. From the footage I watched from CNN, BBC and MSNBC, few truly horrific injuries were shown. The typical footage was of crying children with no visible injuries, interspersed with a couple quick shots of children with burns on small areas of their bodies. The videos relied heavily on interviews with experts; the children were mainly b-roll (Curnow, Robertson). Al Jazeera, however, had no problem with showing gruesome images of burned and disfigured children and talking to them (Cairo). This has been called a propaganda tactic (Robertson), but could also be seen as a more humanistic approach. As far as the Western stations' self-censorship goes, it sometimes seemed to show the injuries as less severe than they were. From the footage I watched, CNN, BBC and MSNBC interviewed mostly children who had suffered psychological trauma, but were bodily sound, perhaps because they did not think it was necessary for audiences to see the most gruesome images.

Fox News had very Israel-leaning coverage. I did not find any stories about Palestinian children-only one about Israeli children getting a new playground. (Heller). When others reported the high rate of civilian deaths in mid-January, Fox News ran the story, "Israel bombs Hamas as reserves move in," which did not even mention civilians until the last two paragraphs (Israel). Needless to say, it did not mention the number of children killed. Any possible wrongdoings by Israeli soldiers were downplayed. The story reported Israel's accusations that Hamas launched attacks from mosques and schools-without mentioning that Israeli soldiers retaliated by bombing the schools, killing dozens of civilians and children. The story reported that "international aid groups say Israel must do more to ensure the safety of civilians," a glaring sugar coating of the groups' accusations that Israel had committed war crimes.

Fox News Gaza reporter Mike Tobin made some interesting comments on the Fox News blog, although it seemed somewhat like a rationalization for their bias (Tobin). Tobin said journalists have faced difficulties in getting the Gaza story because of Israel's refusal to allow foreign reporters into the Gaza strip (although somehow every major newspaper and network, including Fox News, had stories with a Gaza strip dateline). Tobin said the only way he could enter Gaza was with Israeli troops; he could only get the Israeli perspective. "I could not get the perspective of Palestinian Civilians. No one can," he wrote. This might be convincing if not for the multitude of news stories that do present a Palestinian civilian perspective.

CNN, MSNBC, BBC, and to an extent, Al Jazeera, all ran similar stories discussing the psychological suffering of Gaza children. BBC's reporting was probably the most innovative. For instance, both MSNBC and BBC ran stories about the artwork created by traumatized children, but while MSNBC relied on a standard AP story (Israeli), BBC told the story through sound slides of a psychologist interpreting the spooky crayon drawings-a much more effective and engaging approach (Sharp).

The New York Times seemed to try the hardest at presenting the appearance of balanced reporting by giving Israeli and Palestinian stories about equal space visually. For instance, a story about a new Israeli playground offsets one about Gaza children returning to school-both by the same reporter (Bronner, Bronner). Interestingly, a quick Google search of "New York Times + Gaza + bias" brings up copious accusations by various groups of both anti-Israeli and anti-Palestinian bias. This is probably a good sign for the New York Times, although it does not necessary mean the Times is not biased.

Children are a very powerful image, and they have lent their image to the story in Gaza. However, much of the existing coverage seems to fall easy prey to political agendas and the victim stereotype. The most compelling stories were those that went beyond platitudes and official reports to give a real look into the lives of children in Gaza.

Sources:

Aqtash, Nashat A., Anna Seif and Ahmed Seif. "Media Coverage of Palestinian Children and the Intifada." Gazette: 63, 383. 2004

Bronner, Ethan. "Amid the Destruction, a Return to Life in Gaza." The New York Times. Jan. 24 2009

Bronner, Ethan. "An Israeli Playground, Fortified Against Rockets." The New York Times. March 11 2009

"Cairo hospitals treat Gaza's war-scarred children." Al Jazeera. Jan. 25 2009

Curnow, Robyn. "Children bear brunt of Gaza war." CNN Video. Jan. 16 2009

"Gaza children return to school." Al Jazeera. Jan. 24 2009

"Gaza strip." The New York Times. Feb. 4 2009

Gordis, Daniel. "A modest proposal." Jerusalem Post. Jan. 16 2009

Heller, Aron. "Israeli kids get rocket-proofed indoor playground." Associated Press. Published on the Fox News website. March 10 2009

"Israel bombs Hamas homes as reserves move in." Fox News online. Jan. 12 2009

"Israeli war against Hamas scars Gaza's children." Associated Press. Published on the MSNBC website. Jan 25 2009

Katz, Yaakov. "Officer who commanded ground operation gives first briefing. Hamas use of children was 'monstrous' and 'inhumane'." Jerusalem Post. Jan. 23 2009

Lazaroff, Tovah, Yaakov Katz, Herb Keinon and Jerusalem Post staff. "Disputing Gaza death toll, Israel offers no other." Jerusalem Post. Jan. 23, 2009

Ministry of Health Website - State of Palestine. March 18 2009

Robertson, Nic. "Gaza child: 'I am afraid.'" CNN Video Online. Jan. 5 2009

Sharp, Heather and Paul Kerley. "Audio slideshow: Children of Gaza." BBC. March 3 2009

Syed, Shabana. "The Western media coverage of the war in Gaza." Al Arabiya. Jan. 20 2009 < http://www.alarabiya.net/views/2009/01/20/64592.html>

Tobin, Mike. "Getting into Gaza." On the Scene blog. Fox News. Jan 15 2009