Content analysis revealed that approximately a third of the stories involved antisemitic events or the Middle East conflict. Reports that cast Jews or Israelis in a positive light accounted for less than 10% < of all reported news items. Conversely, negative portrayals of Jews and Israelis yielded comparatively higher percentages with anti-Israeli bias outnumbering anti-Jewish bias approximately 2:1.
The results are discussed in terms of the Internet's unprecedented capacity to disseminate news and information whether accurate or not. The researcher calls for greater accountability, setting Western standards for the search engines including media governance. The findings of this study point to antisemitism with other investigations may yield other biases. Regarding the present study's findings, it may not be an overstatement to say that tens of thousands of Internet users are exposed daily to misinformation regarding Jews and Israelis.
Key Terms: propaganda, social media, mainstream media (MSM), antisemitism, anti-Israeli sentiment, anti-Zionism, Jew, Israeli.
