Friday essay: How to Sell a Genocide exposes the double standards of reporting on Gaza

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · May 28, 2026 · 5149 words · By Jeff Sparrow

Media Bias and Double Standards Geopolitical Influence of the US and Israel Institutional Hypocrisy

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What to know about Media Bias and Double Standards

The author argues that liberal and progressive media outlets exhibit a double standard in their coverage of the Gaza conflict compared to the Ukraine war and other humanitarian crises. The piece cites research by Adam Johnson and personal experiences to claim that pro-Israel lobbying and US strategic interests lead to systemic bias and self-censorship in journalism.

Propaganda risk 50%

Claims checked 35

Techniques found 4

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

When the University of Queensland Press cancelled the publication of Wiradjuri poet Jazz Money’s book Bila: A River Cycle because of a blog post by its illustrator, 60 UQP contributors signed a letter of protest.

Why it matters

Some declared they would no longer publish with UQP.

Common ground

Fourteen staff members issued a statement decrying “the precedent the University of Queensland has set”.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Name Calling / Labeling, Exaggeration / Hyperbole: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Media Bias and Double Standards story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that In Gaza, the toll of dead kids exceeded 10,000 [in the first 100 days]?
How does this story connect Media Bias and Double Standards with Geopolitical Influence of the US and Israel over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-to-sell-a-genocide-exposes-the-doub…

analyticsAnalysis

50%

Propaganda Score

confidence: 90%

Moderate concerns. Notable use of persuasive or loaded language.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 4 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 95% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Name Calling / Labeling 80% confidence

Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.

Why it matters: Recognizing name calling / labeling helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Exaggeration / Hyperbole 70% confidence

Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

Why it matters: Recognizing exaggeration / hyperbole helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

False Equivalence 60% confidence

Treating two vastly different things as equal to create a misleading comparison.

Why it matters: Recognizing false equivalence helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 35 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 25

info Single Source 4

verified Verified By Reference 2

check_circle Corroborated 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

info

Claim 1: “In Gaza, the toll of dead kids exceeded 10,000 [in the first 100 days]”

SINGLE SOURCE

While evidence mentions high casualties and 'hundreds' killed daily, there is no specific evidence provided that confirms the toll exceeded 10,000 specifically within the 'first 100 days'.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day." As the war continued, the toll increased steadily, reaching at least 19,424 ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_the_Gaza_war_on_chil…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — May 29, 2025 ... Six hundred days after the start of the war in Gaza, UNICEF's Edouard Beigbeder asks: How many more dead girls and boys will it take?
https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/more-50000-children-killed…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Gaza, part of the occupied Palestinian territory and home to almost 2.3 million people, has been under Israeli blockade for the past 16 years and under ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10868171/

schedule

Claim 2: “Israeli president Isaac Herzog rejected allegations of Israeli responsibility for the Al-Ahli hospital attack as a “blood libel””

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 3: “the New York Times, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, CNN, Politico, USA Today and Axios collectively used the term “savage” 16 times for the killing of Israelis, but never for the killing of Palestinians”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 4: “CNN and the New York Times began instructing employees that attacks could only be attributed to Israel after confirmation from the IDF and GPS coordinate location”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 5: “the American Israel Public Affairs Committee devoted the staggering sum of US$100 million in 2024 to unseating candidates it deemed insufficiently supportive of Israel”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 6: “the US government has provided Israel with US$21.7 billion of military aid [since the Hamas attack on October 7 2023]”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 7: “The International Association of Genocide Scholars describes the Israeli war on Gaza as meeting the legal definition of genocide”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 8: ““slaughter” appeared 120 times in relation to the killing of Israelis, but only once for Palestinians”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 9: ““Massacre” was used 344 times in relation to Palestinians killing Israelis, but never for Israelis killing Palestinians”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 10: “By October 28 2023, the Sydney Morning Herald was also attributing casualty figures to the “Hamas-controlled Health Ministry””

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 11: “When the victims were Palestinian, the terms were used 104 times: 92 for war crimes and 12 for genocide”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 12: “60 UQP contributors signed a letter of protest [regarding the cancellation of Bila: A River Cycle]”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While evidence confirms authors left UQP in protest of the cancellation, the specific number '60 contributors' is not mentioned in the provided evidence.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Collingwood is a former town in the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, Australia, in the Shire of Winton. Collingwood was founded in the 1870s, and it was hoped that the town would thrive and…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collingwood,_Queensland

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The history of the Queensland Police Service in Queensland, Australia, commenced in 1864, five years after the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. This timeline highlights significa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Queensland_Poli…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of Queensland is a public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Queensland

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 13: “the IDF engaged in what UN experts later described as “medicide”: namely, the targeted destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system and the killing of more than 1,500 healthcare workers”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 14: “On MSNBC, child victims of the Ukraine war featured 1,775 times, compared with 1,522 times for Gaza”

SINGLE SOURCE

Similar to claim 4, these specific figures (1,775 vs 1,522) appear to come from the same single study/essay by Johnson and are not corroborated by independent sources.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Oct 14, 2024 · Palestinians received far less sympathetic and humanizing coverage than either Israelis or Ukrainians, a Nation analysis has found.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/cnn-msnbc-gaza-med…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — May 28, 2026 · Almost all major human rights organisations agree the destruction of Gaza meets the legal definition of genocide. Yet liberal news outlets ...
https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-to-sell-a-genoc…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — May 30, 2026 · For instance, Johnson notes that CNN – a pillar of US liberalism – mentioned the child deaths in the first 100 days of the Ukraine war far more ...
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vickiholmesnewsome_in-how-to-…

schedule

Claim 15: “His review of the first 30 days of the two conflicts found that, on CNN and MSNBC, Ukrainians were described on air as victims of genocide or war crimes 1,790 times: 1,515 for war crimes and 275 for genocide”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 16: “the association’s position came after a vote, so we know it reflects the judgement of 86% of its members”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 17: “His 2014 story Stone Cold Justice won a Walkley”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 18: “attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City killed about 200 Palestinians on October 17 2023”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

check_circle

Claim 19: “According to a study by Ette media, the Australian published, between October 7 2023 and April 9 2026, an astonishing 412 articles wholly or in part about Palestinian writer Randah Abdel-Fattah”

CORROBORATED

Two independent web search results from Ette Media and related reports confirm that The Australian published 412 articles about Randah Abdel-Fattah between October 7, 2023, and April 9, 2026.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Between October 7, 2023, and April 9, 2026, The Australian alone published 412 unique articles featuring or referencing Abdel-Fattah. This is more than Nine newspapers, ABC News online, The Guardian, …
https://www.ettemedia.com/exclusive-media-pile-on-randa-abde…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Randa Abdel-Fattah, a Palestinian-Australian academic and award-winning author at Macquarie University, is the most consistent target of The Australian’s smear campaigns. A data investigation by indep…
https://www.freepalestinevic.org/submissions/the-australian-…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — May 28, 2026 ... For instance, Johnson notes that CNN – a pillar of US liberalism – mentioned the child deaths in the first 100 days of the Ukraine war far more ...
https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/153137-https---thec…

schedule

Claim 20: ““Barbaric” was used 14 times to describe the killing of Israelis”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 21: “CNN used the “Hamas-run” label and related terms 277 times and MSNBC used it 146 times [in the 100-day survey period]”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 22: “the US provides more cumulative foreign aid to Israel than any other nation: since 1948, more than US$300 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 23: “The IDF then deployed bulldozers to crush and cover the vehicles, and bury the dead in an unmarked mass grave”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 24: “Johnson finds the US television networks referred to refugees, displaced people and similar terms eight times more often for Ukrainians than for Palestinians (1,663 versus 211)”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 25: “in the first 100 days of the Ukraine conflict, 262 children died”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant results regarding US telephone area codes (262) and does not provide the death toll for children in Ukraine.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Area code 262 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The numbering plan area comprises suburbs that are a part of the M…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_code_262

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Lookup area code 262 details: major cities and timezone. View the 262 area code map in Wisconsin. Find the name of any phone number in area code 262.
https://www.allareacodes.com/262

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Browse area code 262 phone numbers, prefixes and exchanges. The 262 area code serves Milwaukee, New Berlin, Waukesha, Brookfield, Kenosha, covering 72 ZIP codes in 13 counties.
https://www.whitepages.com/phone/1-262

info

Claim 26: “CNN – a pillar of US liberalism – mentioned the child deaths in the first 100 days of the Ukraine war far more (4,223 times) than child deaths in the corresponding period in Gaza (3,632 times)”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific numbers (4,223 vs 3,632) are attributed to a study by 'Johnson' mentioned in a 'Friday essay' and a LinkedIn post, but the actual data is not independently corroborated by other news organizations or official statistics in the provided text.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — As of 3 May 2026, at least 75,811 people (73,770+ Palestinians and 2,039+ Israelis) have been reported killed in the Gaza war according to the Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) and Israeli Ministry of Foreig…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Gaza_war

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel, fought as part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflicts. The war began on 7 October 2023, when the Palestinian mi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_war

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Israeli Air Force conducted numerous concerted aerial bombardment campaigns on the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war until the enactment of a ceasefire in October 2025. Since then, less frequent stri…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_bombing_of_the_Gaza_St…

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 27: “In Ukraine, the equivalent figure was only 33%”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for this claim.

schedule

Claim 28: “the IDF fired on five clearly marked ambulances and a fire truck after they came to the aid of Palestinians wounded in an earlier attack”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 29: “Fourteen staff members issued a statement decrying “the precedent the University of Queensland has set””

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence mentions staff being 'shaken' and authors leaving, but does not mention a specific statement by 'fourteen staff members' regarding the precedent set.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame after winning the first season of Australian Idol, in 2003. Born in Malaysia and…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Sebastian

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — YouTube is an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen, three former employees of PayPal. It is the second-most-visited w…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_YouTube_videos

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — In biological nomenclature, organisms often receive scientific names that honor a person. A taxon (e.g. species or genus; plural: taxa) named in honor of another entity is an eponymous taxon, and name…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organisms_named_after_…

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 30: “the World Health Organization, Human Rights Watch and the US State Department had all used data from the Gaza Health Ministry because of its proven reliability”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 31: “even in the initial period Johnson studied, 80% of the population was displaced [in Gaza]”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for this claim.

schedule

Claim 32: “the Age published a bold editorial declaring [genocide in Myanmar]... It appeared in 2017, in relation to the persecution of the Rohingya people in Mynamar”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

check_circle

Claim 33: “University of Queensland Press cancelled the publication of Wiradjuri poet Jazz Money’s book Bila: A River Cycle because of a blog post by its illustrator”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results confirm that University of Queensland Press cancelled the publication of Jazz Money's book 'Bila: A River Cycle' due to comments/blog posts by the illustrator, Matt Chun.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bila, A River Cycle is a poem by Wiradjuri poet Jazz Money. The poem was originally released in 2021. In 2022, Money began a collaboration with Matt Chun, an Australian children's book illustrator, to…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bila,_A_River_Cycle

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Fortitude Valley had a popul…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortitude_Valley,_Queensland

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1948 as a traditional university press, UQP now publishes books for general readers…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Queensland_Press

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 34: “a subsequent investigation by Forensic Architecture and Earshot alleged the soldiers fired more than 900 bullets at the convoy, before shooting the survivors at close range”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 35: “the totalising moral labels of ‘war crime’ and ‘genocide’ were used on CNN and MSNBC 17.2 times more often in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than Israel’s action in Gaza”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.