Graphic Journalism

Israel’s attack on Gaza received extensive media attention from the early days of its outbreak. Media coverage of the news on the war was incomparable to previous Israel attacks in 2009, 2012 and 2014 due to the length and intensity of the conflict, Arab journalists' presence in Gaza and widespread use of social media to share information about the war. ‘Gaza war’ rapidly emerged as a focal point of graphic journalism, among other journalism genres, to express artistic and political perspectives on the multifaceted realities of the conflict. Meanwhile, the transformative influence of online media on communication plays a crucial role in sharing information and content. Among all media effects, framing is a process whereby people develop conceptualizations of an issue. This study focuses on political cartoons published in global online media between Oct. 7, 2023 and Feb. 7, 2025 to investigate how the war has been framed online through visual representation. 120 political cartoons were studied. Semetko and Valkenburg's (2000) model of news frames analysis was used to answer the research question. Findings reveal that human interests frame, morality frame, responsibility frame, conflict frame and economic consequences frame received the greatest amount of attention by cartoonists, respectively.  The manuscript elaborates on the specific thematic elements identities within each frame.