War or humanitarian crisis? A framing analysis of flemish media coverage of Gaza in 2023 and 2024

This study analyzes how the Gaza conflict is framed in Flemish media, focusing on articles from De Standaard (DS) and Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN). Coverage was examined during three key moments over 1 year: the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, the bombings of Rafah starting May 6, 2024, and the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant on November 21, 2024. Using an existing framing matrix, the study investigated (1) which frames were used, (2) how they differed between newspapers, and (3) whether they shifted across time. The results show that the human interest frame, followed by the war frame, dominated coverage in both newspapers. In the first two periods, the three most common frames were similar across DS and HLN. Only in the third period (November 2024) did the most frequently used frames differ. Over time, different framings emerged for each event, although human interest and war frames remained consistently present. Both outlets relied primarily on Western sources, leading to a potential source bias. Compared to DS, HLN presented events in a less nuanced way, which is expected from a popular newspaper. This study offers new insight into Flemish media representations of the Gaza conflict, a largely underexplored subject.