Whose Story is Told? Palestine (Gaza)-Israel, and the Colonial Media Lens

By: FI

In this post, I will interact with the ongoing debate surrounding the decolonization of media coverage on Israel  Palestine, mainly Gaza, focusing on the bias often seen in many international media favoring the Israeli narrative. I will explore this issue through one of WNYC podcasts. WNYC Studios is a leading producer of popular radio and podcasts, blends in-depth journalism, personal stories and smart entertainment. Part of New York Public Radio, is nonprofit, and reaches audiences across digital and radio platforms.

The podcast is between William Yeomans, Professor of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, and Mona Chalabi, a journalist and data visualizer, and is hosted by Micah Loewinger the co-host of On the Media on WNYC.

The Importance of Decolonizing Media: Breaking Colonial Power Dynamics

Analyzing media coverage of Israel-Palestine raises critical questions about decolonizing media coverage and the deep-rooted biases that shape public perceptions, particularly in the context of Gaza. Decolonizing media means dismantling traditional power dynamics that privilege dominant narratives, often from Western or imperialist perspectives, while marginalizing or silencing voices from the global South or colonized peoples. In the case of Gaza, this entails acknowledging how the media reinforce or conceal the realities of Palestinian life under occupation, perpetuating inequality in access to representation.

Disproportionate Framing: The Israeli Narrative Over Palestinian Voices

One of the most visible ways in which media bias manifests itself is in the disproportionate framing of Israeli versus Palestinian narratives. Scholars such as William Yeomans and data journalist Mona Chalabi offer insight into how Western media outlets primarily highlight Israeli government officials and their perspectives, while excluding or reducing Palestinian voices to a footnote. This imbalance normalizes the actions of the Israeli state while erasing the lived experiences of Palestinians under occupation. For example, Yeomans’ research shows that American officials and Israeli spokespeople dominate major American political talk shows, with pro-Israel sentiments airing 4.6 times more often than pro-Palestinian ones.

Colonial Structures in Newsrooms: Who Controls the Narrative?

This imbalance in voices is not just accidental; it reflects deeper colonial structures in the way newsrooms operate. Editorial policies—such as those at CNN, where all Israeli-Palestinian coverage must be checked by the network’s Jerusalem bureau—further ensuring the continued primacy of Israeli views. Decolonizing the media, in this case, involves prioritizing Palestinian and Gazan voices not as news objects but as active agents with autonomy over their own narratives. This includes humanizing them as fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters, terms that the BBC and other outlets disproportionately use when discussing Israelis but not Palestinians, said Mona Chalabi.

Underreporting Palestinian Deaths: A Media Blindspot

Mona Chalabi’s account of the New York Times’s mention of death highlights another colonial bias in media coverage—how Palestinian deaths are consistently under-reported despite the vastly greater number of Israeli casualties. This disproportionate framing further invisibility of Palestinian suffering, and their treatment as lesser subjects in the eyes of the media. It also limits the ability of the wider audiences to grasp the full scope of the Israeli military occupation and its impact on Gaza, which, Chalabi points out, is framed as a separate conflict rather than part of the broader Israeli-Palestinian war.

Questioning Terminology: The Power of Language in Media

Decolonizing media coverage of Gaza also means questioning terminology and descriptions. Words like “terrorism” are frequently used to describe Palestinian actions, while terms like “occupation” are largely absent from the discourse, as Yeomans’ study notes. Media outlets, following colonial-era discourses, fail to interrogate the structural violence of the occupation, often deflecting from discussions of Gaza’s status under Israeli control. This creates an implicit bias that portrays the Palestinian struggle as illegitimate, while rendering Israeli military actions as a form of legitimate self-defense.

Information Control and the Asymmetry of Reporting

Furthermore, by denying foreign journalists access to Gaza, Israel creates an information asymmetry that allows it to control the dominant narrative. This gateway ensures that only a partial view of the conflict reaches international audiences, in line with Israel’s “hasbara – הסברה” strategy of presenting its perspective as the objective and absolute truth. Decolonizing the media in this context would involve breaking down these barriers, pushing for equal access to reporting on Israeli and Palestinian experiences, and allowing local journalists—many of whom are Palestinian who face great risks and dangers—to shape the story.

Decolonizing the Media: A Step Toward Equity in Reporting

Last, the push to decolonize the media is not simply about fairness in reporting, but about dismantling the historical structures of power that allow some voices to be heard at the expense of others. In the case of Gaza, this means dealing with decades of Western imperial influence that have shaped global perceptions of the conflict, often in ways that reinforce colonial legacies. By centering Palestinian voices, embracing a broader range of perspectives, and discussing the power dynamics in how stories are framed, media outlets can play a critical role in decolonizing the discourse surrounding Gaza and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Last, Connection to Development Studies: This discussion of media coverage of Israel Palestine relates to key themes in development studies, particularly around power dynamics, representation, and the legacy of colonialism. It highlights how many Western media narratives, which often privilege Israeli perspectives, reflect broader colonial structures that also influence development discourse. Similar to how marginalized voices in the Global South are often silenced or misrepresented in development contexts, Palestinians are portrayed as passive or subhuman in many media outlets. This echoes critiques in development studies of how the production of knowledge, language, and control of information perpetuate global inequalities. Decolonizing media and development involves dismantling these power structures, amplifying marginalized voices, and promoting more equitable and inclusive narratives. By addressing these broader themes and adopting a decolonizing approach, media outlets and audiences can begin to challenge entrenched power imbalances, and move toward a more just and equitable understanding of global conflicts, including those involving Israel Palestine.