Exclusive: data reveals pro-Israel bias in ABC coverage since October 7
New analysis by Newscord and Deepcut finds ABC reporting repeatedly privileges Israeli perspectives over Palestinian voices
ABC News consistently gave more prominence to the Israeli perspective and more frequently humanised Israelis than Palestinians in its Gaza coverage, according to a joint analysis by Deepcut and media watchdog Newscord.
The quantitative study – the first focusing on Australian news stories on Israel and Gaza – suggests ABC online news coverage has favoured Israel over the course of what numerous legal experts, human rights organisations and UN officials have described as a genocide.
“The results show the ABC aligns with other mainstream western outlets in shaping the genocide narrative around the perspective of its perpetrators,” said Nima Akram, the founder of UK-based Newscord.
The ABC gave more space to the official Israeli narrative in its Gaza coverage despite the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, being wanted by the International Criminal Court on alleged war crimes charges related to Gaza.
The analysis examined 81 clusters of articles in which the ABC, BBC, Al Jazeera and CNN reported on the same events related to Israel and Gaza between October 7, 2023 and May 2, 2025.
Three aspects were central to the analysis:
how often humanising language was used to describe Israelis versus Palestinians
the frequency of Israeli sources compared to Palestinian sources
the average amount of space given to the official Israeli perspective versus the Palestinian perspective.
In all three instances, the data showed ABC coverage skewed in favour of Israel.
The analysis – in charts
With regards to humanising language – for example the use of words like 'mother', 'father', 'child' and 'family' – ABC used such words 1.58 times for Israelis to every 1 instance for Palestinians. The ABC’s disparity was greater than both CNN’s and the BBC’s, with the latter showing nearly equal use of humanising language for both sides. Al Jazeera, by comparison, was the only of the four outlets to humanise Palestinians more.
Although an outlier in this analysis, Al Jazeera's position appears more reflective of the realities on the ground as Israel has killed at least 55,000 Palestinians, including more than 17,400 children, since October 7, 2023.
ABC News also cited Israeli sources 53% more often than Palestinian sources – 1.346 times per article on average, compared to 0.877 for Palestinian sources. The ABC relied on Israeli sources more than the BBC, but only marginally less than CNN.
Al Jazeera was the only outlet to rely on both Israeli and Palestinian sources equally.
Most significantly, the ABC consistently allocated more space to the official Israeli perspective in its Gaza coverage – 22.1% of an article on average – compared to just 12% for the Palestinian perspective and 4.7% for international organisations. The ABC's results mirrored those of BBC and CNN, while only Al Jazeera dedicated more space to the Palestinian perspective.
Latest in a string of controversies
The findings raise further doubts of the ABC's ability or willingness to meet its own standards of balance, accuracy, and fairness in reporting when it comes to West Asia.
It also raises questions over whether the ABC's internal culture reflects a specific form of anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic racism. In October 2024, an independent review by Indigenous lawyer Dr Terri Janke, a Wuthathi, Yadhaighana and Meriam woman, found "racism is systemic" at the ABC. At the time, the then-ABC managing director, David Anderson, apologised, saying: "On behalf of everyone at the ABC, I am sorry for any and all racist behaviour and past harms experienced by our Indigenous and CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) employees, either currently or formerly employed."
Yet since that apology, the ABC has shown little indication it is taking meaningful steps to address its racism problem. In February this year, it questioned "whether there is a Lebanese, Arab, or Middle Eastern 'race'" in its legal defence against an unlawful termination and racial discrimination case brought by sacked casual presenter, Antoinette Lattouf – a case for which the ABC has billed taxpayers at least $1.1 million.
The ABC withdrew that legal argument a day later after coming under fire from Lebanese, Arab, Muslim and Middle Eastern Christian groups. One such criticism came from the Arab Council Australia, which said in a statement on February 7: "This revelation lays bare the ABC’s systemic racism and active erasure of Arab people from Australia’s public narrative."
And last month, the ABC was again in the spotlight for removing an interview with Palestinian-Australian advocate, Nasser Mashni, from its website and iview. The ABC brushed off criticism by claiming it "mistakenly uploaded" the interview.
The ABC were contacted for this story but provided no comment.
Eyes on the Israel-Iran war:
First, the death toll. As of writing, Iran has reported at least 224 mostly civilian deaths, but a DC-based human rights group put the number at 585 people. Israel's death toll stands at 24.
Among the Iranian death toll was the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, and the lead Iranian diplomat negotiating a nuclear deal with the Trump administration, Ali Shamkhani. Israel has a record of killing negotiators to, essentially, kill negotiations, such as Hamas's politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh last July.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi says centrifuges at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant were "severely damaged if not destroyed altogether". But the real challenge for Israel is the deep underground enrichment plant at Fordow. Destroying the plant requires bunker busters and strategic bombers that Israel doesn't possess – but that the US does. This explains why Israel is so eager for the US to join the war. As an Israeli official said on Sunday and as quoted by Al Arabiya and Haaretz, US involvement is essential; operation pointless if Fordow nuclear facility is not attacked.
Will he or won't he? It's been hard to discern exactly where Trump is heading with this war, and the hints of US involvement appear to be shifting by the hour. The US president left a G7 summit in Canada early to, according to French president Emmanuel Macron, work on a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Trump later refuted that, saying Macron was "publicity seeking". Before leaving the summit on Monday US time, Trump warned Tehran's roughly 10 million residents to "evacuate immediately". Then the White House suggested talks with Iran this week to end the war and agree to a nuclear deal. By Tuesday evening US time, Trump was calling on Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" after a phone call with Netanyahu. Trump appears to lack a coherent strategic plan for Iran and, according to Axios, his decisions are often influenced by "who[ever] speaks with him last".
Whether the US gets involved may very well come down to who can best grab Trump's attention. Israel's attack has caused a split in the MAGA camp between America Firstists who want the US to steer clear of new wars, particularly in West Asia, and neocons and the pro-Israel lobby who are pushing hard for US intervention. Tucker Carlson denounced "warmongers" such as "Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson" who he accused of "calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes". Trump hit back at Carlson, telling The Atlantic, “Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that.”
The US, however, has been moving military assets to the region, including refuelling aircraft and the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. The Nimitz, previously operating in the South China Sea, was rerouted amid the escalating conflict – a move that underscores a central dilemma in US foreign policy: the strategic imperative to maintain a robust presence in the Indo-Pacific to counter China, while simultaneously being drawn into West Asia by Israel and its powerful lobby in Washington. As Daniel Levy writes at Zeteo, is it America First or Israel First?
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei responded to Trump’s threats, saying in a televised message, “The Americans must understand – any US military incursion will undoubtedly lead to irreversible consequences … This is a nation that will never surrender to any form of imposition.” Russia has also warned the US against providing direct military assistance to Israel or even considering it.
My take: Israel doesn't have the capability to deliver a knockout blow to Iran's nuclear program (short of using its own nuclear weapons, a highly unlikely prospect). But it's hard to envision either side backing down – the stakes are far too high for either the Israelis or the Iranians to admit defeat. We could very well be stuck in a destructive shooting match as Israel and Iran take turns striking the other, until missile and air defence stocks are depleted. The Washington Post reports that “Israel can maintain its missile defence for 10 or 12 more days” if Iran maintains a steady stream of attacks. The only power who can tilt the balance is the US – either Trump signs a deal or bombs Iran.
Following the attack on Iran, Israel redeployed some of its forces from Gaza, including its elite 98th Division, to its borders with Jordan and Egypt.
Israel's minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir (the far-right extremist Australia sanctioned last week), prohibited foreign journalists from covering Iran's attacks on Haifa after a missile hit an oil refinery. Turkish media reports that Israeli police raided hotels where TV crews were staying and seized equipment.
Traffic jams in Tehran and hundreds of Israelis on yachts as civilians flee the war. Haaretz reports that Israelis are attempting to reach Cyprus by sea after Israeli airspace was closed due to the ongoing war.
Netanyahu's war adventure is costing the Israeli economy about US$285m (A$439m) a day in air defences and US$300m (A$459m) a day in jet fuel and munitions. “This government is prepared to pay whatever price for the war in Iran, including depleting the reserves and putting Israel in debt for generations to come," an advisor to the Israeli government told The Economist.
Gaza massacres ongoing:
Mass killings at Israeli-backed aid distribution sites in Gaza continue in the shadow of the Israel-Iran war. Israeli forces ambushed and massacred at least 80 Palestinians on Tuesday, eyewitnesses told Middle East Eye. This comes after 38 Palestinians were massacred in similar circumstances on Sunday. Israel has killed hundreds of Palestinians desperately seeking aid since May 27.
An Israeli drone strike on the southern Lebanese village of Houla killed a beekeeper as he tended to his hives on Monday. Lebanese social media accounts named the victim as Mohammad Nasrallah. Last week, we reported that Israel killed a shepherd and his son herding sheep in a village near the border.