Hamas’ terrorist attack and hostage-taking in Israel on Oct. 7 led in return to large-scale Israeli military action throughout Gaza. As the conflict approaches the three-month mark, with more than 1,200 Israelis and 20,000 Palestinians killed, how is it being covered on television news?
The timeline below shows the total number of mentions of Israelis, Palestinians, Gaza, and Hamas across CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, with Al Jazeera for comparison. The coverage on all three American channels peaked on Oct. 8 and has declined ever since, with several periods of leveling off or brief surges around major events. CNN has covered the conflict more than its peers to date, with 91,758 mentions, compared with 77,134 on Fox News and 72,463 on MSNBC. In contrast, Al Jazeera maintained steady coverage day-over-day through mid-December, though it ramped down its coverage nearly 30% in mid-December before leveling off. While American media maintains a continued focus on the conflict, it has largely pivoted away to other stories.
Looking just at the American channels, Israel initially received nearly twice as much attention as the Palestinians or Hamas, but that rapidly fell over the first month, and over recent weeks, Israel has received only slightly more attention. Palestinians as a whole and Hamas have received nearly equal mention over the course of the conflict. All three are steadily fading in American media.
The Israeli hostages held in Gaza have received far less attention on Al Jazeera (4,840 mentions) than in American media (18,691 mentions on CNN; 13,981 on MSNBC; and 12,568 on Fox News). Coverage steadily declined from the attack through mid-November, then surged with the hostage deal, then collapsed within days as it was clear that no further hostages would be released. Mentions have remained at their lowest levels ever since. American media has clearly moved on from the plight of the Israeli hostages.
How do mentions of the Israeli hostages compare with mentions of Palestinian civilians caught in the conflict? On Al Jazeera, the ratio of Israeli hostage mentions to Palestinian civilian mentions to date is 0.5 – meaning two Palestinian civilian mentions for every one Israeli hostage mention. On American channels, the equation is reversed, with a ratio of 4.8 hostage-to-civilian mentions on Fox News, 3.34 on MSNBC, and 3.25 on CNN. Across the four channels, the hostages have been mentioned 50,080 times to 21,708 mentions of Palestinian civilians, meaning each Israeli mention is worth 2.3 Palestinian mentions.
Were the Hamas attacks “terrorism,” according to the media? Around 5-10% of Hamas mentions across CNN and MSNBC since Oct. 7 mentioned the words “terrorist(s)” or “terrorism” in close proximity to Hamas, while on Fox News they have ranged around 10-15%, though they have declined to around 10% since mid-December. Al Jazeera has used the terrorism framing only negligibly, mentioning Hamas and terrorist/terrorism together just 24 times since Oct. 7. In contrast, Fox News has mentioned the combination 4,482 times, compared with 3,135 times on CNN and 2,499 times on MSNBC.
Similarly, rising antisemitism, including on college campuses, has received almost as much attention on Fox News (4,004 mentions) as on CNN (2,279) and MSNBC (1,830) combined.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has argued that the Hamas attacks shifted global media attention away from Ukraine. Yet, a closer look at daily mentions of Ukraine across CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News over the past year shows that while there was a decrease in mentions, Ukraine coverage had already dwindled starting in June 2022.
Comparing the two in terms of global search interest, the Oct. 7 attacks yielded less than half as much worldwide Google search interest as the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Gaza receiving just 5% as much on the day of the attacks. Interest in Gaza has declined, while interest in Israel remains slightly elevated above its pre-attack levels.
Like Ukraine before it, the Hamas attacks and Israeli reaction in Gaza have largely faded from media attention in the U.S., with the daily drumbeat of civilian casualties and the plight of the hostages barely warranting a mention. Importantly, even regional media have begun to pivot away to other stories as global search interest has collapsed. It all adds up to yet another conflict that the world’s media and public (at least in terms of search interest) appear to care little about.
