EUROPE’S LARGEST NEWS AGGREGATOR ORDERS EDITORS TO PLAY DOWN PALESTINIAN DEATHS
A view shows the new headquarters for the German publishing house Axel Springer in Berlin on Oct. 19, 2021. Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images
Upday, an app owned by the German media giant Axel Springer, is instructing journalists to cover the war in Gaza with a pro-Israel bent.
AS ISRAELI BOMBING raids virtually eliminated internet access in the Gaza Strip over the weekend, one of the largest media companies in Europe was pushing its own initiative to limit online news about civilian casualties in Palestine.
Upday, the largest news aggregator app in Europe, handed down directives to color the company’s coverage of the war in Gaza with pro-Israel sentiment, according to interviews with employees and internal documents obtained by The Intercept.
Leadership at Upday, a subsidiary of the Germany-based publishing giant Axel Springer, gave instructions to prioritize the Israeli perspective and minimize Palestinian civilian deaths in coverage, according to the employees.
“We can’t push anything involving Palestinian death tolls or casualties without information about Israel coming higher up in the story,” an employee told The Intercept, referring to push notifications, the alerts sent to millions of phones. The employees, who asked for anonymity to protect their livelihoods, said there was widespread discomfort throughout the company over the moves.
“We strongly contest the indirect allegations you make,” said Julia Sommerfeld, a representative for the German-based Axel Springer. “Neither have we directed our journalists to ignore civilian casualties in Gaza, nor have we asked our editors to manipulate news coverage, nor was corporate management involved in any editorial decisions. Upday’s editorial guidelines are based on journalistic principles and the (publicly available) Axel Springer Essentials” — a reference to a company statement of values.
Sommerfeld said, “The Upday news coverage follows these principles, and each editorial decision is taken by trained journalists.”
Top Upday officials’ high regard for Israel was apparent in everyday communications: In the company’s Slack, an Israeli flag appears beside the avatar of Upday’s CEO Thomas Hirsch, according to the employees. (Upday did not respond to The Intercept’s direct request for comment.)
“There is a very absurd media push for really dismissing and invisibilizing any Palestinian sympathy,” said Ahlam Muhtaseb, a professor of media studies at California State University, San Bernardino, when asked about Upday’s internal directives. “The one-sided Israeli victimhood narrative demands buy-in from media institutions and the U.S. government itself.”