BBC Israel focus in numbers: October 2014

Below is our regular end of month count of articles appearing on the Middle East page of the BBC News website according to the twenty-two countries and territories defined by the BBC as making up that region per the profiles on that page.

As in previous months (see ‘related articles’ below), the count relates to three categories of articles – headline, non-headline and features – with the total representing both the appearance of a report and its level of exposure in terms of the number of days it stayed up on the site.

This month – like the previous one – several articles concerning Turkey appeared on the Middle East page. Seeing as that country is not defined by the BBC as belonging to the Middle East, those articles are not included in the count below.

For the fifth consecutive month Iraq got the most exposure on the BBC News website’s Middle East page throughout October, mostly in connection with ISIS. Syria received the second-most coverage – also primarily in connection with ISIS and the battle in Kobane – with few reports relating to other events in that country. Third in terms of exposure was Iran and Israel was in fourth place. In fifth place came Saudi Arabia (mostly due to the appearance of features concerning the Haj) and Yemen, where significant political violence continued.

Throughout the last twenty months, Israel has consistently remained in the top five countries receiving the most exposure on the BBC News website’s Middle East page. The trend of minimal reporting from countries in the Middle East defined as ‘not free’ continues to dominate BBC coverage of the region.