Themes in CNN’s Coverage of the Israel-Hamas War

The next speaker in this IAMCR 2024 session is Nermine Aboulez, whose focus is on global reactions to the 2023 Israeli-Palestine war. The current war is of course only the latest escalating in a conflict that has been going on for more than 70 years; it began with Hamas’s surprise attack and kidnapping of Israelis, and escalated with the start of Israel’s still ongoing war in Gaza.

The conflict has been covered extensively in the media, and part of the focus here is especially on the US media. Media can play a role in escalating or deescalating conflicts, not least by affecting public opinion on conflicts, but this often comes at the cost of oversimplifying the nature and underlying causes of conflicts. This also depends on the framing of such conflicts, and on how such framing reflects alliances and diplomatic relationships.

Media coverage of such conflicts can be voyeuristic, too, and can serve as a way of distancing or othering the victims of war; it can generate identification, disgust, or superiority towards the warring parties for its audiences. The focus of the present study is how this has played out in CNN’s coverage of the conflict since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. Stories where Israel or Palestine are the primary actors, or personal interest stories, were excluded, to focus on international reactions to the conflict.

Qualitative coding of the main themes of the conflict focussed on some 100 news stories from the news outlet’s Website, and identified themes of strength and competence (e.g. of military strategies); refuting blame (for missing intelligence about the attack); the potential involvement of other enemies in the Hamas attack; criticism of leaders; justification of the war; condemnation and blame analysis; diplomatic ties (with other countries); economic impact; types of support for Israel or Palestine; references (to anti-Semitism, 9/11, the holocaust, etc.); criticism of pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli activist groups; demonisation of Palestinians; humanitarian frames; and solution-oriented frames. Emotive words were common in the coverage.

This shows some patterns of war voyeurism, with different actors identifying with one or the other party to the conflict, emphasising their own strength, and sympathising with the victims of the conflict. (And Nermine ends here with a heartfelt statement on her own positionality towards the conflict, as an Egyptian who grew up next door to this continuing conflict.)