Studies confirm: German media disseminate pro-Israel propaganda

Germany’s mainstream media report in a highly one-sided manner on what is commonly labelled the “Middle East conflict” – a German term that ultimately obscures the confrontation between the Zionist occupying power on one side and the peoples of West Asia, above all the Palestinians, on the other. This is the conclusion reached in several investigations published since March 2025 by German journalist and Islamic studies scholar Fabian Goldmann on his blog, ironically titled “Schantall und Scharia“ (“Shantal and Sharia”).

In his latest report, dated 9 December, he presents the current findings of his research. Goldmann analysed 11,125 publications released between 7 October 2023 and 19 January 2025 across five of Germany’s most influential media outlets. The spectrum ranges from the right-wing, strongly transatlantic tabloid daily BILD and the Spiegel magazine to the liberal weekly Die Zeit the state-funded Tagesschau evening news, and the left-liberal to left-leaning daily “taz”. Together, BILD, Spiegel, Zeit and taz have a combined print circulation of around 2.3 million, with far larger online audiences. The Tagesschau is watched by 11.7 million people each day.

Palestinians carry out “massacres”, Israel “responds”

The results are striking. In 849 pieces, Israeli attacks were described as “counterattacks” or “retaliatory strikes”. Whenever these terms were used, 70 per cent of the time they referred to Israeli military actions. They were almost never applied to actions by Lebanon’s Hezbollah or Iran, and not once to any action by Hamas. “Palestinians never respond,” Goldmann summarises the framing of Germany’s leading media.

What they are reported to do, however, is carry out “massacres”. The term appears 3,617 times in the surveyed content. In 3,160 cases (87.4 per cent), it refers to the “Al-Aqsa Flood Operation” on 7 October 2023. In fewer than 7 per cent of cases is “massacre” applied to acts of Israeli violence – and even then exclusively as quotations, not as the media’s own characterisation.

German media also readily use the term “major attack”. It appears 1,188 times. In 1,154 cases (97.2 per cent), it refers either to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” or to rocket fire on Israel from Lebanon or Iran. By contrast, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon is described as a “limited operation in the border area”, a “limited and targeted ground deployment” or as “limited incursions and precise strikes on Hezbollah targets”.

In an earlier interim report, he found that, across Tagesschau, Bild, Zeit and Spiegel, 2,100 of the 4,853 headlines analysed (43.3 per cent) were based on Israeli sources, while only 244 headlines (5.0 per cent) could be traced back to Palestinian sources.

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A pattern confirmed

In previous investigations, Goldmann examined hundreds of Tagesschau broadcasts and found that on 470 evenings, Israeli politicians and military officials appeared 136 times – compared with just four appearances by Palestinian politicians. In another study, he analysed the covers of Germany’s three most important news magazines  Spiegel, Focus and Stern. The situation in the Middle East featured on 15 of 225 front pages. Three covers showed images from Gaza. In contrast thirteen expressed empathy for Israelis and Jews, warned of “Islamist” and “Palestinian terrorists” and of the “mullahs”, or attacked Greta Thunberg.

While many German journalists are undoubtedly pro-Israel out of personal conviction, there is also active reinforcement. As early as October 2023, it emerged that Germany’s public broadcaster ARD, which also airs the Tagesschau, had distributed a 44-page language guide to its staff. It stipulated that one must refer to “attacks from Gaza on Israel”, “terrorist attacks on Israel” or “war against Israel”, and that formulations such as “spiral of violence” or “escalation in the Middle East” were prohibited. It also emphasised that Israel conducts only “counterattacks”. The term “Hamas fighters” was likewise banned. Instead, the official wording was: “terrorists”, “militant Islamists”, “militant Palestinians” or “terror militia”. Contrary to fact, employees were told: “The antisemitic Hamas is classified as a terrorist organisation by the international community to a large extent.” In addition to top-down pressure from editorial offices, there is pressure from Israel and from Zionist actors within Germany. Haaretz recently quoted several German correspondents in Israel who spoke of “an atmosphere of intimidation” and of practising self-censorship.

These studies and leaks merely confirm what critical media consumers in Germany have long observed: that the country’s leading media outlets fully align themselves with the so-called “German reason of state” and offer unconditional support to Israel. Yet according to an August 2024 survey, 48 per cent of Germans have “little or no trust” in the domestic media’s coverage of the Middle East. More recent polls show that 59 per cent of Germans describe events in Gaza as “genocide”, while only 10 per cent fully support the “reason of state”. Nonetheless, not a single major German media outlet describes what is happening in Gaza as “genocide” or speaks of “apartheid” in Palestine.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.