A Media Matters data analysis of the print editions of the five U.S. newspapers with the highest circulation has shown that in the first two weeks of Israel’s siege of Gaza in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on Israel, some outlets — such as the Los Angeles Times — included the voices of civilian Palestinians in Gaza in most of their coverage. Other outlets — including USA Today — often neglected to include them in their stories. 

Our findings showed:

• The Los Angeles Times quoted civilian Palestinians in Gaza in 91% of its articles.
• The New York Times and The Washington Post quoted the perspectives of Palestinian civilians in Gaza in 64% and 55% of their articles, respectively.
• USA Today had the worst record of the five newspapers, quoting civilian Palestinians in Gaza in only 27% of its coverage.
• The Wall Street Journal also missed the mark in comparison to its competitors, quoting Palestinian civilians in Gaza in only 41% of its articles.

Outlets also largely failed to include civilian Palestinian voices after the October 17 hospital explosion in Gaza. As the humanitarian situation worsens for Palestinians in Gaza, print media must continue to include civilian voices in their coverage of the ongoing war, and those outlets that are lagging must improve.

• On October 9, Israel began a bombing campaign in Gaza and declared a siege of the region, depriving the more than 2 million Palestinian residents of water, electricity, and food supplies. In retaliation for Hamas’ October 7 deadly attack on Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed, “We have only started striking Hamas.” [NPR, 10/9/23; CNN 10/9/23]
• The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that, as of October 29, the death toll in the region had surpassed 8,000. With shortages of medical supplies and calls to evacuate hospitals, the death toll is likely to climb. [UN News, 10/30/23]
• The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory said 1.4 million people in Gaza have been displaced from their homes. Gaza’s Ministry of Housing estimates that at least 42% of housing units have been destroyed or damaged since October 7. [United Nations, 10/24/23]
• On October 27, two major Palestinian internet and phone companies announced their services were down following Israeli strikes. While access started to return two days later, few Palestinians were able to communicate outside of Gaza at that time, making it hard for the outside world to understand the story on the ground. [The New York Times, 10/27/23; PBS, 10/29/23]

• The Los Angeles Times quoted civilian Palestinians in Gaza in 91% of its articles covering Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza. Of the top five newspapers, the Los Angeles Times led in the inclusion of these Palestinian voices, giving context to life on the ground as Israel began its counteroffensive. 
• The New York Times and The Washington Post followed the Los Angeles Times, quoting the perspectives of Palestinian civilians in Gaza in 64% and 55% of their articles, respectively. These two papers also had the largest amount of coverage of the counteroffensive, clocking in at 39 and 42 articles, respectively. 
• USA Today had the worst record of the five newspapers, quoting civilian Palestinians in Gaza in only 27% of its coverage. Out of 11 total articles on the counteroffensive in Gaza, only 3 quoted Palestinian civilians in Gaza in their coverage. 
• The Wall Street Journal also missed the mark in comparison to its competitors, quoting Palestinian civilians in Gaza in only 41% of its coverage on the counteroffensive. Only 9 out of 22 articles included a direct quote from a Palestinian civilian on the ground.

• The Al-Alhi hospital suffered damage after an explosion near the hospital. While the exact source of the explosion is unclear, the event resulted in many Palestinian deaths. [NPR, 10/24/23]
• Following the explosion, inclusion of Palestinian voices dropped dramatically in print media’s coverage of the event. On October 17, the day of the explosion, 82% of articles included Palestinian voices. (The papers had already been published prior to the explosion.) In the aftermath of the explosion, the percent of articles that included Palestinian voices dropped to 57% on October 18 and just 22% on October 19, the lowest percentage of any day in the first two weeks.

Media Matters searched print articles in the Factiva database from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post for either of the terms “Gaza” or “Hamas” or any variation of either of the terms “Palestine” or “Israel” from October 9, 2023, when the Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza began, through October 22, 2023, two weeks after the Israeli response was initiated.

We included news articles, which we defined as instances in the A-section of the paper when the aftermath or effect of the Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza  was mentioned in the headline or lead paragraphs, including mentions of the death toll of civilians in Gaza or descriptions of Israel’s campaign of airstrikes and bombings, Israel and Egypt’s blockade, Israel’s “siege,” or the growing humanitarian crisis.

We then reviewed the identified articles for whether they quoted, interviewed, or paraphrased any civilian Palestinians living in Gaza about the bombings, the impact of Israel’s counteroffensive, the humanitarian crisis within Gaza, or any other aspect of Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion. We did not include instances when the papers quoted, interviewed, or paraphrased non-Palestinians trapped in Gaza or Palestinians not residing in Gaza.