Most people don’t read past the headlines of news articles, either because they don’t have time or because the article itself is paywalled (for example, in Australia, News Corp and Nine websites).

Hence, Dr Assal Rad focuses on headline analyses to demonstrate the shocking media framing of Palestine and Iran stories.

The ABC has helpfully indexed all its articles by headline in an Algolia-powered database back to 2003. This allows for longitudinal analysis: we can easily analyse the ABC’s coverage of Israel/Palestine with its coverage of Russia/Ukraine and Iran.

As context, the difference in tone in the tweets of Australian politicians on these subjects could not be starker. Tweets perform a similar task to headlines.

Russia is bombing women and children. This isn’t a “complex” situation or a “special military operation”. It is an illegal and immoral war waged against innocent people - all countries should condemn President Putin’s actions and support Ukraine’s sovereignty. (Penny Wong, March 2022)

Australia unreservedly condemns Russia’s aerial attacks against multiple cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv. We stand with Ukraine and continue to call on Russia to end its illegal and immoral war. (Mark Dreyfus, December 2023)

Russia’s missile attacks on several Ukrainian cities, including a Kyiv children’s hospital are abhorrent. We condemn the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.

Australia continues to support the people of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal, immoral war. (Penny Wong, August 2024)

The statements routinely contain the strongest emotive and legal terms: “illegal”, “immoral”, “innocent”, “abhorrent”, “bombing women and children”, “all countries should condemn”, “unreservedly”, and “unequivocally”.

But leaders never use such language to describe Israel, despite the much greater magnitude of the crimes being committed in Palestine, in terms of percentage and number of civilian casualties.

In recent weeks at the ABC, it’s been open season on Iran. Headlines simply present Australian government allegations made without public evidence as uncontested facts.

Revelations Iran was behind antisemitic attacks show IRGC tentacles have reached Australia

The text in these articles has also been tentacular.

The IRGC …  has long been known to have tentacles that spread wide around the globe.

Tehran’s tentacles in antisemitic incidents in Australia …

A new light on the Iranian regime’s long tentacles

This choice of metaphor reflects Israel’s own preferred narrative.

[Iran is] a terror-octopus whose head is Tehran, and its tentacles are in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Gaza. (ABC, Naftali Bennett, 20 April 2024)

It would threaten Iraq’s stability further and allow Iran to further spread its tentacles throughout the region. (ABC, 8 January 2020)

Similar headlines have been seen about Russia:

Inside Vladimir Putin’s ‘paranoid’ spying network, with tentacles extending around the world (ABC, 14 July 2024)

In contrast, in the context of Israel, tentacles enfolding the globe are considered an antisemitic and dehumanising trope and are never used.

The recent BRICS condemnation of US and Israel attacks on Iran, reflecting 49% of the world’s population, was relegated to a 3am article on the ABC, in the third-last paragraph of an article with a headline about Trump tariffs. This was a clear example of the ABC being stuck in a “US and UK media cul de sac”.

The late professor James Bill, days before the 2002 “Axis of Evil” speech, said the US “views Iran through spectacles manufactured in Israel”. Similarly, we find that in ABC headlines since then, Iran is always a “regime” while Israel is always a “government”.

This neatly reflects PM Albanese’s recent explanation of Australia’s refusal to sanction Israel while heavily sanctioning Iran and Russia, that is: “Israel is a democracy”. Israel is more accurately described as an “ethnocracy”.

Here are just a few ABC headlines about Russia. We see the same emotional language used by Australia’s political leaders: “brutal”, “atrocities”, “unspeakable horrors”, “barbaric”, “terror”, “trauma”, “massacre”, applied directly to Russians.

Russia’s brutal tactic sees civilians targeted and attacked

Survivors describe arbitrary, routine and brutal Russian torture of soldiers and civilians

The world was shocked by Russian atrocities in Bucha. The ABC found new horrors in Berestyanka

Putin’s forces are leaving a barbaric calling card

Is Russia committing genocide in Ukraine?

The Bucha massacre in Ukraine takes Russia’s army to a sloppy and corrupt new low

Russia’s unspeakable horrors in northern Ukraine: Torture, murder and cluster bombs

Russian troops came to kidnap and murder this Ukrainian village leader

Some children in Ukraine have known nothing but war. Russia’s invasion only adds to their trauma

These words are never used in ABC headlines to describe Israel’s actions. The language is carefully “both-sided” or the subject is restricted to “bad apples”.

Surge in violence between Israelis and Palestinians in West Bank

The catastrophic cycle of violence between Israel and Hezbollah

Violent clashes erupt during Israeli march in Jerusalem

Five Israeli soldiers charged over horrific abuse of Palestinian man at infamous Sde Temain jail

Israel’s investigation into Hamas’ Nova festival massacre leaves families of victims with more questions than answers

Israel’s victims are hardly ever given a full name in headlines while the opposite is true for Israeli hostages. Revealingly, only the hostages story contained a “distressing details” warning!

In summary, the ABC headlines reflect Australian government views, with added dehumanising metaphors. Russia and Iran are regimes with tentacles committing brutal and irrational acts.

In contrast, the ABC presents Israel as a democracy. Despite a clear scholarly consensus it is committing genocide, all criticism of Israel is removed from headlines in a “both-siding” process. ABC headlines consistently use harsher, emotive framing for Russia/Iran while softening or “both-siding” Israel.

This bias is best seen over time and breaches ABC policy on impartiality and diversity of perspectives: “4.5 Do not unduly favour one perspective over another.” However, when the ABC Ombudsman uses a phrase like “murderous depravity” to describe the actions of Hamas, but never Israel, change is unlikely to come from official channels.