Media Watchdog Finds “War Crime” Label Predominantly Applied to U.S. and Israel in Iran Conflict

Mainstream media outlets have disproportionately applied the term “war crime” to actions by the United States and Israel while largely avoiding its use when reporting on Iranian military activities, according to a new analysis by a Middle East-focused media watchdog group.

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) released findings Wednesday revealing that in the first three weeks of the Iran conflict, major news outlets used the phrase “war crime” 32 times, with 88% of those instances directed solely toward U.S. or Israeli actions.

David Litman, CAMERA’s research manager who conducted the study, examined coverage from five prominent news organizations: the BBC, CNN, NBC News, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. His analysis found that none of the “war crime” references were directed exclusively at Iran’s actions, while four instances (12%) were either unattributed or applied to both sides.

“This journalistic malpractice inverts reality,” Litman wrote in his assessment of the findings.

The analysis noted that nearly all references to potential war crimes stemmed from reporting on a single incident—an airstrike early in the conflict that allegedly destroyed a school in Minab, Iran. The Pentagon continues to investigate this incident, according to CAMERA’s report.

The study highlights several Iranian military actions that received no “war crime” designation from the examined media outlets. These include Iran’s use of cluster munitions in populated areas of Israel, which CAMERA notes “almost certainly constitutes a war crime” even though cluster munitions themselves are not universally banned.

Other Iranian activities not labeled as war crimes in the coverage included strikes on energy installations and other key infrastructure in nations not officially involved in the conflict, such as Kuwait and Bahrain. The analysis found that even when Iran was mentioned in discussions of war crimes, it was only in conjunction with equal criticism of Western actions.

George Mason University law professor Adam Mossoff commented on the analysis, writing on X (formerly Twitter) that “data analytics confirm huge bias in favor of pro-Islamic regime of Iran by BBC, CNN, NBC and NY Times.” Mossoff described Iran’s actions, including “shooting missiles and suicide drones at civilian targets” and “firing missiles at holy sites in Old Jerusalem,” as receiving zero identification as standalone war crimes by major Western media organizations, calling the discrepancy “shameful.”

The study comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East and growing scrutiny of media coverage of the conflict. CAMERA, founded in Washington in 1982 by social worker Winifred Meiselman, was originally created in response to perceived anti-Israel bias in The Washington Post’s coverage of Israel’s incursion into Lebanon.

The organization has counted prominent political figures among its early advisors, including Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), former Senator Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minnesota), and former Representative Tom Lantos (D-California).

Fox News Digital reported reaching out to communications officials at all five media organizations cited in the study—CNN, the BBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and NBC News—but received no response by publication deadline.

The findings raise important questions about objectivity in international conflict coverage and how terminology that carries significant legal and moral weight is applied across different actors in complex geopolitical situations.