Israeli Media Gatekeeper during Gaza War 2014 Coverage: Case of Study of Yedioth Ahronoth Newspaper

**Israeli Media Gatekeeper during Gaza War 2014 Coverage: Case of Study of Yedioth Ahronoth Newspaper**

OMAR ABU ARQOUB & BAHIREEFE OZAD
Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus (Turkey)

Abstract
The third Gaza War between Israel and the Palestinian resistance erupted on the 7th of July 2014 and lasted for 51 days leaving behind thousands of victims between deceased and wounded, the majority of whom were Palestinians. The focus of this study is the coverage of the media gatekeeper for 2014 Gaza War; the Hebrew online newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth as a case study. The study is testing Gatekeeping Theory using quantitative methodology and content analysis as data collection technique. The main findings include the use of interesting frame for the presentation of information by Yedioth Ahronoth, the focus of the newspaper is to show the Israeli issues, perspective, and to ignore the Palestinian sources of news and to depend on the Israeli sources instead. This also included the provision of justifications for Israel, portraying it as a victim of war, and ignoring the Palestinian losses. Thus, Yedioth Ahronoth was biased to the Israeli side.

Keywords: Censorship, Israeli media, Gatekeeping theory, Gaza War 2014, Palestine, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper

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Omar Abu Arqoub is a PhD candidate in the Communication and Media Studies at Eastern Mediterranean University. His research interests are journalism, engineering of consent, and Israeli and Palestinian media issues.

BahireEfe Ozad is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Eastern Mediterranean University (North Cyprus). Currently she holds the Chair of Radio, Television and Film Department. Her research interests are journalism, television studies and social media.