Our monthly count of Israel-related articles and comparison with the amount of exposure given to other countries in the region on the BBC News website’s Middle East page relates to written articles only. Also featured on the same webpage, under the heading “Watch/Listen”, are filmed reports which previously appeared on BBC television news.
During the month of August, a total of twelve such reports relating to Israel appeared on the Middle East page and they are categorized here according to the number of days they were left up on the site.
Appeared for one day:
Kerry hopeful on Mid-East talks despite settlement move
Appeared for two days:
Syria crisis: Israelis queue for gas masks – Richard Galpin.
Israel frees Palestinian prisoners – Yolande Knell – discussed here.
Israel frees Palestinian prisoners – Yolande Knell – discussed here.
Shimon Peres: ‘Live in peace side by side’
Israel’s President Shimon Peres turns 90 – Lyse Doucet.
Appeared for three days:
Israeli hospital treats Syrian war-wounded – Sam Farah – discussed here.
Appeared for four days:
Would new Israeli ports bring efficiency or job losses? – Jonathan Frewin.
Why Mid-East peace talks now? – Bethany Bell – discussed here. Originally posted in July, continued to run in August.
Appeared for five days:
‘Last airlift’ of Ethiopian Jews to Israel – Emily Thomas. Still on the website at the time of writing.
New Israeli settlement homes anger Palestinians – Kevin Connolly – discussed here.
Appeared for six days:
Palestinian prisoner release highlights divisions – Kevin Connolly – discussed here.
As we see, more than half of these filmed reports are connected to the subject of the talks between Israel and the Palestinians and in terms of exposure, that issue was the subject matter of two of the longest running reports. Seven of the items promote the theme of Israeli construction as ‘sabotaging’ or jeopardizing the talks (which was a major theme on the BBC News website throughout August) and the BBC-written synopsis of the report featuring Shimon Peres’ speech does the same. The total number of days the eight articles promoting that theme remained on the website is twenty-four.
