Examining media bias and geopolitical proxy framing effects on media representations of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict in Taiwan: A computational framing analysis.

This study employed a computational framing analysis to examine media representations of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict between 7 and 14 October 2023. This study integrated media framing, media bias and geopolitical framing literature to examine if these factors could explain how this global tragedy was framed and if variations exist between established news and social media. Based on the analysis of a corpus of 3864 articles, we found that the media's political biases played a less explanatory and consistent role in reporting the Palestinian–Israeli conflict. Instead, we observed media ideologies interacting with proxy geopolitical framing influence from outside could have shaped how Taiwanese news and social media organizations represented the Palestinian–Israeli conflict. This study reported statistically significant and consistent variations in Taiwanese media representations of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict between pro-China/unification, pro-Kuomintang and conservative/right-leaning news organizations and pro-Taiwan independence, left-leaning, pro-incumbent Democratic Progressive Party The Liberty Times. Using a topic modelling technique, we found that pro-China/conservative news media sided with China to hold a more pro-Palestinian stance by framing the conflict as a result of Israel's long suppression of people living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as the cause of the conflict and place much emphasis on Israel's actions on humanitarian casualties. On the other hand, the pro-Taiwan news media aligned with the United States to focus more on pro-Israel news coverage, its attacks and counterattacks, and global responses. Additionally, social media netizens' comments centre on the underlying causes of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict but do not align with the mainstream news media and are less affected by the proxy geopolitical framing effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]