We analyzed The Times’ use of sources in its reporting on Palestine and found a great disparity in who they relied on for their stories. The newspaper quoted Israeli and American sources, we estimated, more than three times as often as Palestinian ones. This trend is much starker when examining only quotations from officials. Israeli and American officials’ quotes outnumber Palestinians nine to one. It seems the best way to get the Times to ask you about what’s happening in Gaza is to be an American or Israeli official.

We also found that the newspaper used the passive voice to describe Palestinians 1.7 times more than it did to describe Israelis. “Killed” was one of the most commonly used passive verbs with Palestinians — such as “Palestinians were killed” — indicating a tendency to obscure Israel as the agent of Palestinian deaths. Just as striking is the disparity in active verbs. Unsurprisingly for a newspaper, the most common active verb used for both groups was “said,” and so was not included in the chart. When controlling for that, the most common active verbs used with Israel largely related to discourse — “told,” “responded” and “agreed” were all in the top five. While for Palestinians, they tended to describe violence — “released,” “attack,” and “launch.

We also found that the newspaper used the passive voice to describe Palestinians 1.7 times more than it did to describe Israelis. “Killed” was one of the most commonly used passive verbs with Palestinians — such as “Palestinians were killed” — indicating a tendency to obscure Israel as the agent of Palestinian deaths. Just as striking is the disparity in active verbs. Unsurprisingly for a newspaper, the most common active verb used for both groups was “said,” and so was not included in the chart. When controlling for that, the most common active verbs used with Israel largely related to discourse — “told,” “responded” and “agreed” were all in the top five. While for Palestinians, they tended to describe violence — “released,” “attack,” and “launch.”