With one headline, Sky News gives a genocide propaganda masterclass

On 14 October, Sky News gave us a masterclass in how to propagandise for genocidal colonial power Israel. In just one headline, it seemed to use as many linguistic tricks as possible to highlight the importance of, and maximise sympathy for, Israeli occupation soldiers who had died – while simultaneously doing its utmost to underplay the deaths of Palestinians.

Outrage online apparently pushed the propaganda outlet to tone down its spin. However, the original headline serves as a perfect example of how to subconsciously influence public perceptions.

Referring to Sky‘s propaganda-writing skills, media expert Alan MacLeod explained that:

As someone who regularly lectures in sociology, journalism and media studies, I could teach an entire lesson on the title alone.

The Sky News Israel spin within the headline

The Sky News headline was “Israel names teenage soldiers killed in Hezbollah drone attack – as ’23 die’ in Gaza school strike”.

MacLeod gave a breakdown on X of just how awful that headline was, and why:

1. Treating the 4 Israeli soldiers as more important than the 23 Palestinian children (by leading the story with their deaths and just chucking in the others at the end) implies their lives are of higher value.

2. Infantilizing active duty soldiers as “teenagers” while not emphasizing the age of the schoolkids, despite many of them being demonstrably younger.

3. The classic use of the passive voice: Israelis are “killed” while Palestinians merely “die”.

4. Putting scare quotes around “23 die” subtly undermines the credibility of that claim. Maybe no one died, and the Palestinians are just lying?

5. Using the word “attack” for Hezbollah actions, but choosing a more neutral, clinical word like “strike” for Israeli aggression.

6. Allowing Israeli sources to dictate the framing of the story (“Israel names teenage soldiers”) etc.

His seventh point on Sky News was “actually naming the Israeli soldiers, but not doing the same for the far greater number of Palestinians, again sends the message to the reader that Palestinian lives don’t matter nearly as much, if at all”:

In years to come, students in university departments around the world will be studying the propaganda embedded in this headline.

As someone who regularly lectures in sociology, journalism and media studies, I could teach an entire lesson on the title alone.

For example:

1.… pic.twitter.com/HU1VlRcOBn

— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) October 14, 2024

Sky propaganda helps to act with impunity

Some corporate media outlets may be a bit more subtle with their propaganda. But Sky News doesn’t seem to care how blatant its spin is.

On the same day, for example, it tweeted about Iran. However, it attached the image of Israel burning Palestinians alive to illustrate its point.

Far from acknowledging the Palestinians burnt alive last night, Sky's captioned this picture as if it's a strike on Israel pic.twitter.com/Nqj6shgxtL

— Hamza M Syed (@HamzaMSyed) October 14, 2024

If you want to know how the Israeli apartheid state can get away with its live-streamed genocide, the impunity that the US and its allies provide by allowing it to act without any meaningful consequences is certainly the main factor.

But we shouldn’t underestimate the crucial role Western media propaganda plays too – not least among this being Sky News’s subversive headlines.

Featured image via screengrab