How did Israeli journalists’ Twitter messages about the 2014 Gaza war differ from their international colleagues’ messages, asked Ori Tenenboim, of University of Texas at Austin. Tenenboim analysed a random sample of 1 000 tweets, sent by 20 Israeli and 20 international journalists.

The contents of the messages differed significantly: Israeli journalists mentioned places in Israel more often, and international reporters places in Gaza. International journalists emphasized attacks in Gaza more, and Israeli journalists put weight on rocket attacks into Israel.

The Israeli and international journalists were also split by their source preferences. Israeli journalists used more political and military sources, while international journalists relied on established media actors. In source selection both groups were still reliant on “elite” sources – even if different ones, Tenenboim notes.

The article “Reporting War in 140 Characters” was published by the International Journal of Communication. It is freely available online on the publisher’s website (open access).

Picture: Untitled by niritman, licence CC0 1.0.