An Assessment of the Credibility in Online Platforms Coverage of the Gaza War in the Middle East

This study assessed the credibility of information in The Nation, BBC and Al-Jazeera online platforms coverage of the Gaza war in the Middle East. It examined issues such as: the story type; story source, story framing, type of visuals and the credibility of information in the coverage of the war. The study applied the theoretical concepts of Agenda Setting, Framing, and Source Credibility theories, focusing on how the credibility of the information reported during the war shaped media representation of the conflict. The pragmatic paradigm research philosophy or design informed the choice of content analysis with the coding sheet as instruments for the data collection. A sample size of three online platforms, The Nation, BBC News and Al Jazeera published from October 2023 to June 2025 derived from the Google search engine was employed to obtain stories of the Gaza war. These three platforms featured stories of the war that generated data used in this analysis. The search covered a period of 1,884 days, while a sample size of 64 stories dealing with the Gaza war issues, were downloaded based on the units of analysis The study found that over three-quarter (n=53) were reported as news; more than a quarter, (n=18) stories representing 28.1% were sourced from international organisations or bodies; more than a quarter of the stories (n=25) and (n=21) representing 39.1% and 32.8% were given “humanitarian” and “political” frames by the online platforms; visually, more than one third (n=26) representing 40.6% were reported with violent visuals or graphics; more three quarter of the stories (n=51) representing 79.7% were verified information as other platforms reported such stories, while (n=13) representing 20.3% were unverified reports. The study concludes that reporting was limited by thin contextual and interpretive content, with narrow range of voices and verification practices that depend largely on other media. It thus recommends that news organizations should devote time on verification of sources against other outlets and in fact-checking desks, open-source verification tools and on-the-ground sources, especially where casualty figures and claims are contested, to limit circular reporting.