(FreedomBeacon.com)- US college newspapers are “obsessed with Israel” and much of the coverage shows extreme bias against the Jewish state, according to a study from a college watchdog group.
According to the study conducted by Alums for Campus Fairness, in the last five years, college newspapers have published at least 1,450 articles about Israel, the plurality of which are biased against it.
Over a third of the articles “present the Jewish state in a negative way,” the study found, while only 17 percent showed “a positive view of the country.”
According to Alums for Campus Fairness executive director Avi D. Gordon, the bias in campus newspapers is the result of “Jewish voices and Jewish perspectives” being excluded. Gordon said Jewish students and alumni must be more proactive by reaching out to student journalists and building relationships, including offering themselves as sources.
The study reviewed 75 college papers and found that small liberal arts colleges were the ones exhibiting the most anti-Israel bias although the larger public universities produced the most Israel-related content.
The biggest anti-Semites of the bunch were Haverford, Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, and Oberlin, though these schools published fewer articles on Israel than the larger universities.
Examples of the bias found in reporting include stories related to the Israel/Palestine conflict that omitted key details or excluded perspectives from Jewish students.
The study comes as campuses are seeing a spike in anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activism, reflecting a growing climate of hatred against Jewish students and groups.
In 2021, a third of Jewish college students said they experienced anti-Semitism on campus, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Many said the incidents stemmed from anti-Israel campus activism.
Currently, the US Department of Education is investigating complaints from Jewish Students at the University of Vermont who say they have been excluded from campus groups and were receiving lower grades for expressing their support for Israel.
