How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza
by Adam H. Johnson (Author) Format: Paperback
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (61)
As bombs rained down on Gaza in October 2023, images of mass death and destruction gripped the world, and openly genocidal statements from Israeli leaders foretold the magnitude of horrors to come. But the US media was quick to downplay, obscure, and repackage an emerging campaign of extermination into a slick "war on terror" framework.
How to Sell a Genocide is a thorough indictment of US corporate media's role in enabling-and, at times, directly inciting-one of the most devastating campaigns of mass killing in modern memory. Johnson unpacks how major news outlets like The New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC systematically sanitised Israel's war crimes, hid the US's central role, and dehumanised the Palestinian people.
Drawing from deep, original data-driven analysis, Johnson dissects the mechanics of propaganda, from the selective empathy, strategic omissions, overt racism and repetition of state-sanctioned falsehoods, to the demonisation of humanitarian workers and dishonest coverage of campus protests. With clarity and moral force, Johnson argues that the genocide could not have been sustained without the active, sustained complicity of the US media.
256 pages
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Foreword by Noura Erakat
Introduction
1 "40 beheaded babies," the ISIS-ification of Hamas, and how to prime the American public for revenge
2 Who is allowed to be human?
3 How US media helped the Biden administration distance itself from the horrors of Gaza
4 Covering war crimes like earthquakes
5 How the New York Times helped Israel militarize civilians, humanitarian workers in Gaza
6
Sunday morning news shows, editorial boards, Morning Joe, and how "agenda-setting" news limited the debate to "how many Palestinians should die"
7 Selective empathy and liberalism's crisis of legitimacy
8 "Antisemitism" show trials and the smearing of campus protests
9 The Atlantic, "day after" wish-casting, and soft-pedaling mass killing for the tote bag set
Conclusion
Notes
Product description
Review
'Really, really moving. What Adam Johnson is doing there is he's forensically documenting the way in which people reported the Gaza War. Everything from the adjectives they use, the way they described the two combatants, the amount of attention they paid to casualties on the Israeli side compared to the Palestinian side'
Rory Stewart, author of Politics on the Edge and co-host of The Rest is Politics
'Compelling .. a very interesting, challenging read'
Alastair Campbell, co-host of The Rest Is Politics
'So intelligent. Johnson's commentary is so good'
Briahna Joy Gray, host of the Bad Faith podcast
'One of the more important books about politics you're going to read this year'
Perry Bacon, New Republic
'Brilliant ... this is such a crucial book, and it's a book that had to be written. Everyone go and get it'
Owen Jones
'A great read. It has a ton of empirical analysis data as well as just stories of what was going on in some of these newsrooms that you probably haven't read or encountered elsewhere. It's a really useful tool for folks who are still trying to change the minds of folks around them, to help them really understand how freaking propagandized they are if this is the kind of media they are consuming'
Jared Ware, co-host of Millennials Are Killing Capitalism
'This is a really vital volume for seeing through media reporting from October 2023 to the present day'
Nathan Robinson, Current Affairs
'I cannot recommend it enough. A stunning work of data analysis proving the genocide incitement perpetrated by legacy liberal media'
Matthew Remski, co-author of Conspirituality
'A painstakingly detailed indictment of the Fourth Estate, showing how cable shows, newspapers, and online news sites helped build support for the mass killing of Palestinians'
Mondoweiss
'Powerful .. an empirically rich critique of the full horror of the performance of American journalism on Gaza.'
Counterfire
'How to Sell a Genocide vividly and meticulously demonstrates the power of narrative and the powers involved in shaping them... Through painstaking documentation over a 12-month period, Johnson shows how anti-Palestinian racism among elite liberals and liberal institutions constituted "Moats of Rationalization" that primed Western audiences for genocide.'
Noura Erakat, Human rights attorney and author of Justice For Some
'Read this book'
As'ad AbuKhalil, professor of political science at California State University
'Sobering and frightening ... How to Sell a Genocide reveals how US media sold Israel's destruction of Gaza to liberal audiences'
The New Arab
About the Author
Adam Johnson is a media analyst and co-host of the podcast Citations Needed. His writing has been featured in The Nation, In These Times, The Intercept, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle.
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Product details
Publisher : Pluto Press
Publication date : 5 July 2026
Edition : 1st
Language : English
Print length : 256 pages
ISBN-10 : 0745351654
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From other countries
dorothy
5.0 out of 5 stars A look behind the scenes
Reviewed in Germany on 4 August 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Sometimes you wish you hadn't looked behind the curtain. Knowledge is liberating, but sometimes it is difficult to live with it. In any case, you want to know more then. And that's good
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Sarah A.
5.0 out of 5 stars The Double Standards Are Impossible to Ignore Once You See Them
Reviewed in the United States on 10 June 2026
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Of the many books I've read on Israel-Palestine since October 2023, Adam Johnson's *How to Sell a Genocide* is one of the most thought-provoking and unsettling.
Drawing on thousands of newspaper articles and television segments, Johnson argues that mainstream American media applied dramatically different standards when covering Israeli and Palestinian suffering. Among the examples he documents are the routine use of terms such as "Israeli children" versus "Palestinian minors" and "Israeli hostages" versus "Palestinian detainees" or "prisoners"—even when both groups were being held against their will without criminal charges. Johnson argues that these linguistic choices shaped who readers viewed as fully human, sympathetic, and deserving of concern.
The book is filled with examples that are difficult to unsee once they've been pointed out. Russian actions in Ukraine were described with clear agency—"Russia attacks," "Russia bombs," "Russia strikes"—while Gaza coverage frequently relied on passive constructions such as "deaths rise," "violence spreads," "hospitals face impossible conditions," and "aid remains stuck."
Johnson also examines how major media outlets frequently downplayed or ignored openly racist and genocidal statements made by senior Israeli officials. Among the examples discussed are Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's declaration that "We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly," President Isaac Herzog's assertion that "It is an entire nation out there that is responsible," and Prime Minister Netanyahu's invocation of Amalek, the biblical enemy whom the Israelites were commanded to destroy.
Another compelling section explores the portrayal of the Biden administration as a frustrated bystander supposedly unable to influence events, despite repeated acknowledgments by Israeli officials themselves that Israel's military campaign depended heavily on American support. Retired Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brick stated: "All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it's all from the US. The minute they turn off the tap, you can't keep fighting. You have no capability. Everyone understands that we can't fight this war without the United States. Period." Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog later remarked: "God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period."
The book also examines the smearing of campus protests, the marginalization of Jewish anti-war voices, and the fact that many Gaza solidarity encampments included significant Jewish participation, hosted Shabbat services and Passover seders, and challenged media narratives that framed opposition to Israeli policy primarily through the lens of antisemitism.
Perhaps the most memorable line in the book comes from the foreword: "Palestine has exposed so much: the fallacy of universalism, the enduring chasm between the Global North and South, the relationship between law and power, the limits of academic freedom, the authoritarian nature of so-called democracies, as well as the outright racist and colonial complicity of media."
Whether one agrees with all of Johnson's conclusions or not, the book is extensively sourced, rigorously argued, and impossible to dismiss casually. More than a book about Gaza, it is a book about media power, selective empathy, and how public consent for war is manufactured.
Highly recommended.
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胡盤
5.0 out of 5 stars Biased coverage in Western media
Reviewed in Japan on 28 April 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Israel's genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is clearly a war crime and has occurred many times, but it has always been crushed by Western countries at the UN Security Council
.
This already proves that the UN is not working.
Western media are still using the ridiculous and impossible catchphrase that Israel's brutal genocide is a battle against terrorists (Hamas), defending all of Israel's war crimes that violate international law, and continuing to
deceive Western white people who are not very interested in Middle Eastern issues.
Even Japan has not been so biased.
It is the biased coverage of Western media that defends not only Palestine but also the war between America and Israel, which violates international law, such as Lebanon and Iran.
This structure has continued ever since Israel was founded.
America's war crimes in violation of international law from the Iraq war are horrible and continue even now.
Only Russia and China are called demons, but I think Israel and America, England, France, Germany, etc. that support it are
accomplices.
The Western media is rotten.
The responsibility of the Western media, which kept silent about the complete destruction of the Gaza Strip, is large
, but it seems that they are still keeping their mouths shut down due to anti-Semitism.
The country called Israel has only been invaded by ferocious terrorist settlements, and I don't think it has been approved as a nation
.
The notorious Jewish pressure group's only claim is anti-Semitism
.
Other than that, nothing can logically be refuted.
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Lee
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential and enraging.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 June 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Well enrage you.
Is especially useful because it focuses on centre-left, thought-leader mainstream media like the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic etc. As Johnson points out, looking at right-wing media coverage of the genocide is pointless because they're logic is 1) a genocide is happening but also 2) it is a good thing and entirely the fault of the Palestinians. This shows with cold, hard facts how centre left media manufactured consent for the ongoing genocide. It demonstrates the double standard and selective framing in headlines, interview, articles, and specific word choices to demonise the Palestinians and obfuscate the role of the Israel in what is happening. I've always been a fan of Johnson due to his really good podcast series Citations Needed where he and a co-host critique corporate media and propaganda from a left-wing perspective, and also his writing whenever it has appeared in sites like The Intercept. But this book is a much-needed one, and sadly the only people who will read it are probably ones who already know how one-sided the media is with regards to the genocide in Gaza. BUT! It is still useful to be harmed with blunt facts about how bias the media on the off chance that you ever end up in a debate with someone undecided on the issue about this, and this slim book is invaluable to help with this.
Cant recommend enough.
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Henry J
5.0 out of 5 stars Great work
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 July 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Brilliant indictment on the liberal media
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Burt Stanton
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written
Reviewed in the United States on 25 June 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Well researched and documented
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M. S. Balter
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and detailed dissection of one of the biggest media failures of our time.
Reviewed in the United States on 17 May 2026
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
A meticulous job of gathering the compelling evidence which shows that most mainstream media outlets allowed pro-Israel bias and callous disregard for Palestinian lives guide their coverage of the war against Gaza.
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Sal F. Albanese
5.0 out of 5 stars The shameful role of our media in the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians
Reviewed in the United States on 13 May 2026
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
A depressing & sobering must read with clear evidence on how a live streamed genocide was sanitized by a complicit & dishonest left of center press.
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Freida G. Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars A critique of journalism as practiced by the corporate media par excellence.
Reviewed in the United States on 5 May 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
A critique of journalism as practiced by the corporate media par excellence. Calls to mind the propaganda model. Well written and Exhaustively sourced.
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