FOX News

Fox News Channel represents the conservative American perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, The Fox News Channel, one of the most watched cable news networks in the United States, is often criticized for being a biased news source for American conservatives. With this right wing predisposition, one would expect to see a distinct bias for Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict due to the tendency of American media to rally behind their own government foreign policies and disposition. Through a content analysis over the last few years, it is evident that Fox News favors Israel in its stories. 

Fox News does not have a general appearance of bias towards Israel. Looking at strictly article titles, Fox News appears to be very unbiased and balanced. Article titles generally include both sides in a fair manner that does not throw blame to either party. With reference to violence, Fox News will use titles, such as “Gaza truce talks break down as Israel, militants trade rocket fire” (Fox News, 2014). Both Israeli and Palestinian militants are acknowledged as being a part of the rocket fire. In addition, the phrase used is “trade rocket fire”, which implies a mutual fault. With reference to peace talks, the attitude is the same. One article is titled “Israel, Palestinians and Obama: Time to rethink the peace process”, which does not place blame on either side for failed peace agreements (Bandler, 2014). However, this surface image of balanced news is nothing more than a façade.

The content of Fox News articles is very slanted in favor of Israel. While Fox News will report factual information, they often will include statements by Israel in defense of their actions with no response from the other side. For example, in the same article about rocket fire mentioned before, the author includes the reasoning behind the Israeli rocket attacks, but not the attacks of Hamas (Fox News, 2014). Sometimes, Fox News will even add unrelated information in an attempt to garner sympathy for Israel. In an article titled “Israeli airstrike levels 7-story building in Gaza”, the article not only explains the reasoning behind the attack, but also mentioned victims in a separate Hamas attack and went so far as to describe them as “civilian drivers waiting to transport wounded Gazans who had been brought into Israel for treatment in hospitals” (Associated Press, 2014). The biased content does not stop at specific events.

Fox News openly supports Israel in the long run of the conflict. In one article, Fox News states, “If Arab countries are to truly tackle extremism, recognizing Israel must be part of the equation” (Bandler, 2014). In addition, this quote is in a larger font than the rest of the article and is placed to draw focus. Fox News does not stop at supporting Israel, however. In some articles, Fox News even attacks the critics of Israel. In one article, Fox News attacks the UN’s denouncement of Israel’s actions and even calls the UN broadcasters “partners in incitement to genocide against Israel, the Jewish state” (Bayefsky, 2014). Such strong support of Israel and condemnation of its opponents cannot be considered balanced news.

The evidence examined shows a clear bias towards Israel by the Fox News Channel. While they appear to be balanced and impartial on the surface, when the content of their articles is analyzed, there is a clear slant in favor of Israel. Fox News allows Israel to defend its actions in the face of criticism and adds unrelated facts to soften Israel’s image. In addition, Fox News blatantly supports Israel as a state and attacks its critics. With such strong content in favor of Israel, there is no question that a bias exists.