German and Austrian media have not failed to cover the war in Gaza

By: Nikolaj Kristensen
March 15 2024

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(Source: Instagram/Screenshot)

Context

Social media users are falsely claiming German and Austrian news media are neglecting to cover Israel's war in Gaza. 

"How amazing that in Germany and Austria you can turn on the TV, or watch the news on public transport, and not a single mention of Gaza. The biggest news story on earth; more civilians killed per ratio than any war in the 20th century.... Not a word," wrote an Instagram user, who describes himself as an independent British journalist, before adding, "Goebbels ist stolz auf euch!" – "Goebbels is proud of you" – referring to the infamous Nazi regime propaganda minister during World War II, Joseph Goebbels.  

However, web searches show that major news organizations in both Germany and Austria have covered the conflict extensively. 

In fact

One does not have to search long on the web to find coverage of the Israel-Gaza war in German and Austrian media.

The German television news service Tagesshau has numerous reports on the conflict dating back to Hamas' October 7 attack last year and further back still. The tabloid newspaper Bild – the most widely circulated newspaper in Germany – keeps a live tracker on its website for news related to the conflict. The same goes for German public-service television broadcaster ZDF, while reports can also be found on websites for TV channels Das Erste and RTL. 

Austrian national public broadcaster ORF has aired multiple news reports on the situation in Gaza. 

There are multiple examples of German and Austrian media covering the conflict massively. (Source: Der Standard/Bild/ZDF/ORF/Tagesshau/Screenshots)

Joachim Trebbe, a professor in media research at Freie Universität Berlin, told Logically Facts he could see no evidence for the claim that German media was neglecting the war in Gaza. 

"As far as I observe the coverage on German TV/Radio Broadcast and in the press, the Gaza war is at the top of the journalistic agenda every day. Yesterday evening, for example, the planned airlift, humanitarian supplies by sea and a possible Israeli plan to evacuate Rafah were among the first topics on the evening news. Almost all political talk shows on television regularly dealt with that topic and the political and military developments in Israel and Gaza can be followed every day on the front pages of the national press," said Trebbe.

"There is a widespread public discussion of the conflict in the media as well as 'in the street,' in particular when it comes to the special relationship between Israel and Germany," he added.  

He underscored that this was his impression as a professional media user and that, to his knowledge, there is no empirical research on the issue.

Bernd Kerschner of Medizin Transparent, an Austrian fact-checking organization that focuses on health claims, said he was no expert on the matter, but that "the Austrian media do cover Gaza, e.g. the renowned liberal-left newspaper Der Standard."

The verdict

The claim that German and Austrian media have neglected to cover the conflict in Gaza is completely unfounded. There are numerous examples of media organizations in both countries covering the conflict extensively. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.