**Yale Study: New York Times Coverage of Israel-Hamas War Shows Pro-Hamas Bias**
A newly published academic study analyzing *The New York Times*' coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, launched by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, has concluded that the newspaper exhibits a clear pro-Hamas bias. The study, authored by Edieal J. Pinker of the Yale School of Management, is titled *“An Analysis of the New York Times Coverage of the War Between Israel and Hamas.”* It quantitatively examines 1,561 articles published between October 7, 2023, and June 7, 2024, that mention both “Israel” and “Gaza.” Pinker’s findings highlight a dominant narrative in which the war is framed around Hamas's initial attack, which killed 1,200 Israelis, followed by Israel's military response and rising Palestinian casualties. However, he notes that Israeli casualties and Palestinian violence post-October 7 receive significantly less coverage, even during periods of intense fighting. The study also finds: “Israel” is mentioned more than three times as often as “Hamas.” Personal stories of Palestinian or Lebanese suffering appear in articles nearly every other day, whereas Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) casualties often go unmentioned for a week or more, even during periods of frequent Israeli losses. The reporting structure places primary agency on Israel while diminishing Hamas’s role in ongoing violence, creating an imbalanced depiction of events. Pinker dismisses the argument that Israel is mentioned more frequently simply due to its greater autonomy and military capability. He points out that if this were the case, similar imbalances would not exist in coverage of Hezbollah and Iran, yet his analysis finds the same pattern.
The study is the latest to highlight bias in mainstream media reporting on the conflict. *The Jerusalem Post* notes that the BBC has also been accused of pro-Hamas bias and violating its own editorial standards over 1,500 times—though the BBC dismissed these findings as biased themselves.