Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q4 2016 – part one

Between October 1st and December 31st 2016, a total of sixty-nine reports with content relating to Israel and/or the Palestinians appeared on the BBC News website’s Middle East page. Seven of those reports (all concerning the death of Shimon Peres) were carried over from September.website

Some of the reports were produced by other departments (e.g. BBC Technology, Health) or appeared on other pages of the website (e.g. ‘Europe’ or ‘US Election’) but were also posted on the Middle East page.

Although the Israeli security services recorded 346 terror attacks during the fourth quarter of 2016 (see ‘related articles’ below), just one of the articles appearing on the BBC News website during those three months related to the wave of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis that began in the autumn of 2015 and continued – albeit with lower intensity – during 2016. As readers can see for themselves, the headline did not include the term ‘terror’ and that editorial policy is similarly apparent in the report itself. 

(The dates in brackets represent the period of time in which a report was available to visitors to the website’s Middle East page.)

Jerusalem shooting: Two killed by Palestinian gunman (9/10/16 to 10/10/16) discussed here and here

Another article reported on a thwarted attack against Israelis abroad:

Kosovo police ‘foil IS attack’ on Israeli football team (17/11/16 to 18/11/16)

Three articles related to Syria: one pertaining to a cross-border attack and two about alleged Israeli airstrikes:

Israeli aircraft target IS position in Syrian Golan Heights (28/11/16 to 29/11/16) discussed here.

Syria conflict: ‘Israeli jets’ strike outside Damascus (30/11/16 to 1/12/16) discussed here

Syria conflict: ‘Israel missiles’ hit Damascus military airport (7/12/16 to 8/12/16) discussed here.

One article related to a terror warning issued by the Israeli security services:

Israel warns of New Year terror threat in India (30/12/16 to1/1/17) discussed here

In all, 8.7% of the BBC News website’s reports in Q4 covered stories relating to security/terrorism. The additional topics found in the BBC’s coverage of Israel and the Palestinians during the fourth quarter of 2016 will be discussed in part two of this post.

Related Articles:

Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q1 2016 – part one

Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q1 2016 – part two

Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q2 2016 – part one 

Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q2 2016 – part two

Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q3 2016 – part one

Reviewing BBC News website portrayal of Israel and the Palestinians in Q3 2016 – part two

BBC News coverage of terrorism in Israel – October 2016

BBC News coverage of terrorism in Israel – November 2016

BBC News coverage of terrorism in Israel – December 2016 and year summary

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