Israeli Media Gatekeeper during Gaza War 2014 Coverage: Case of Study of Yedioth Ahronoth Newspaper

Abstract

The third Gaza War between Israel and the Palestinian resistance erupted on the 7th of July 2014 and lasted for 51 days leaving behind thousands of victims between deceased and wounded, the majority of whom were Palestinians. The focus of this study is the coverage of the media gatekeeper for 2014 Gaza War; the Hebrew online newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth as a case study. The study is testing Gatekeeping Theory using quantitative methodology and content analysis as data collection technique. The main findings include the use of interesting frame for the presentation of information by Yedioth Ahronoth, the focus of the newspaper is to show the Israeli issues, perspective, and to ignore the Palestinian sources of news and to depend on the Israeli sources instead. This also included the provision of justifications for Israel, portraying it as a victim of war, and ignoring the Palestinian losses. Thus, Yedioth Ahronoth was biased to the Israeli side.