Below is our regular end of month count of articles appearing on the Middle East page of the BBC News website according to the countries/territories defined by the BBC as making up that region per the profiles on that page (but with the BBC category “Palestinian Territories” separated into the Gaza Strip and the PA controlled areas).
As in previous months (see ‘related articles’ below), the count relates to three categories of articles – headline, non-headline and features – with the total representing both the appearance of a report and its level of exposure in terms of the number of days it stayed up on the site.
For the first time since we began this count five months ago, Syria was not the country most covered by the BBC this month, despite the fact that there has been no easing of the situation there during July. Instead, Egypt topped the count with the most coverage by far – understandably due to the dramatic events there at the end of June and beginning of July.
Despite continuing violence in Iraq (according to the UN, July was the deadliest month there in years, with over 1,000 people killed in terrorist attacks), that country only came fourth in terms of coverage, with Israel in third place. Fifth came Lebanon – mostly due to reports relating to the EU’s designation of Hizballah. Coverage of Jordan related largely to the deportation of Abu Qatada from the UK.
Related articles:
BBC Israel focus in numbers (March 2013)
BBC Israel focus in numbers – April 2013