The Media is the Message

“The medium is the message”, said Marshall McLuhan 60 years ago. Of course it does make a difference: Whether you're watching a documentary, listening to a podcast, seeing a post on social media, or hearing from someone entrenched in an issue. All of these will warp the character of whatever it is you’re interacting with and can completely change the content.

For the old school newspaper subscribers out there, reading a headline is just as important and noteworthy. A headline needs to catch your attention, draw you in, and intrigue you enough to want to click on and read the whole piece. When dealing with the big papers, in addition to the medium being the message, we can go one further and say that the media is the message.

The western world awoke this morning to news that the conflict in Gaza was flaring up again. As a thought experiment, let's analyze the headline of the story from 6 separate outlets:

The Globe and Mail

This was the front page story at the Globe and Mail. According to the Globe, the story is that the ceasefire is being majorly tested because Israel struck southern Gaza. It goes on to explain that Israel is targeting (targeted?) militants in the Rafah area who had opened fire on its soldiers. They also chose to have the featured picture be a Palestinian man carrying a box of food supplies against the backdrop of rubble. The photo was taken a day before the incident in question, in a different city than where the strike occurred.

CNN

This was the biggest front page story at CNN - though it was surrounded by stories on jewel thieves, “No Kings” protests, and cowboys. Interestingly, CNN chooses to start this headline by pointing out that the ceasefire is US-brokered. Adding an American element that was seemingly not relevant to the Globe. The headline is neutral, it suggests that the ceasefire in Gaza is at risk without getting into any details. The photo is a picture of Rafah across the border taken from Egypt in August. It is vague but if you look closely enough, you do see the rubble. The “Kicker” (the key points afterwards) mentions that Israel struck Gaza after saying its troops were attacked. Meanwhile Hamas is still ‘committed’ (in quotations for some reason) to the ceasefire. Israel has also “accused” Hamas of attacking Israeli forces in Gaza.

Fox News

Fox News’s headline catches the eye with ‘Bold Violation’ on top of a photo of Israeli tanks that was taken a week before the most recent strikes. Fox chooses to emphasize different points that the previous outlets. It says that the Israeli military strikes Hamas (it is specific where earlier posts said “militants”) after Hamas breaks the ceasefire first (allegedly). Fox is much more clear that Hamas “started it” and that Israeli retribution is in fact retribution. Both the kicker lines go on to further emphasize this point.

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera chooses to immediately describe the strikes as “Deadly attacks” that are targeting multiple places within Gaza. It points out quite clearly that Hamas has rejected the claims - and infers that Israel and the US made up the attacks on the Israeli forces. It also mentions that 51 Palestinians have been killed - implying that Israel is responsible for these deaths. It adds a new claim that Israelis have killed 5 more Palestinians according to “Medical Sources” and finally that Netanyahu seems poised to restart the war. The photo depicts men carrying corpses in white blankets, there is no date or location added.

Time of Israel

The Times of Israel starts off by citing that there was a violation to the ceasefire. It leads that the IDF believes that terror operatives (not necessarily Hamas) attacked Israeli forces in Rafah. The kicker explains that Hamas is denying responsibility, but that there was allegedly RPG and Sniper Fire directed at Israelis. It mentions that the Israeli military has responded with air strikes. This is also the first mention of the “far-right” in Israeli politics calling for a return to the Gaza war. The photo is from October 12th, and is of two Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

CBC

Finally we have the CBC. The CBC is the only outlet mentioned that did not have this story as front page news. You find the story upon navigating to the “World” section. The headline begins with Israel conducting airstrikes in the Rafah area. This kicker mentions the airstrikes and interestingly puts in quotations "terrorists" and the term “violated”. The photo is from a different city in Gaza (Gaza City) taken on Sunday.

So what actually happened this morning in Gaza? Was this an unprovoked genocidal airstrike on innocent Palestinians? Was it a strong and measured retaliation by Israel after Hamas blatantly broke the ceasefire? Or was it something else entirely?

More importantly perhaps, what do the photos make you feel when you see them? Do they cause you to fear or hate one side or the other? Are any of them actually relevant to the situation at hand? If they aren’t, is that ok?

Finally, why do these different organizations report on the exact same issue in so many different ways?

All great questions, most of which are never actually going to get answered.

Until then, remember the medium is the message, and these days, the media is the message.

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