Analysis of media and communication: ISIS Propaganda Debate and Controversy

nName

nInstitution

nCourse

nDate

n

nIntroduction

nIn the recent past, the world has witnessed how ISIS uses of both social and traditional media in their propaganda efforts. The ISIS propaganda through the media intends to reach hostile and sympathetic audiences the aim is to gain support from a wide range of people across the globe. In addition, the terrorists encourage individuals across the globe to join them in Syria and Iraq. Similarly, their media efforts are intended to solicit for financial resources from people across the world that remain in their home countries (Blaker 2015). The funds are used to conduct terrorism activities. For instance, they use modern means of communication such as Twitter to deliver messages to their supervisors. Furthermore, the media propaganda is intended to create fear among its enemies, which would increase their gains on the battleground (Gartenstein-Ross 2015). Moreover, another objective is to assert its legality and acquire approval of its position as a government. Not all these goals can be accomplished without extensive profile raising and publicity.

nAnalysis of Media ISIS Propaganda Communication

nThe ISIS group leverage communication technologies especially the social media and products of customer technology to plan and communicate their propaganda. It also set aside a section of its senior officers to train both members and sympathizers on how to apply modern and encrypted communications. According to Chang (2015), the efficiency and efficacy of ISIS military operations is mainly dependent from the importance of easy and common technologies such as Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and Instagram. Moreover, its foot militias release substandard images and videos daily, which then transmitted across the globe. Both the traditional media and normal users access these videos and images. The ISIS videos are in competition with major new sources in the western world such as reality shows, Hollywood movies as well as other music videos (Chang 2015). Just recently, the terrorist group released a shocking video, which showed how US journalists (Sotlof Steven and Foley James) were beheaded. More importantly, these videos were meant to provoke the western allies such the UK and US because they were forced to re-initiate combative operations in these regions (Irina 2016).

nSome of the key media tools for the terrorist group include the Ajnad Media Foundations, Al-Itisaam, the al-Furqan, and the al-Hayat Media Center. The ISIS group has initiated propaganda messages, videos disseminated through polished magazines, published newspapers, and social media as well as smartphone apps, and radio programs (Blaker 2015). The propaganda content is generated in diverse languages such as Turkish, Urdu, Russian, Arabic, English and Hebrew. Additionally, ISIS has also developed events for media especially the displays of beheading. These video explicitly aims to gain western listeners (Al-Rawi 2016). For instance, Al-Hyatt has generated many videos focussing on recruitment requests, their military operations, civic power in their territory and display of social order.

nIn the past, the videos produced by extremist groups were normally unsophisticated films displaying their leaders engaging in boring and long sermons. However, currently, they produce high quality videos by leveraging modern techniques in production of cinemas with their styles similar to Hollywood. In order to attract their audiences attention, they apply apocalyptic and dramatic narratives. The traditional media outlets pick up these productions from the social media platforms (Gartenstein-Ross 2015). In addition, the group apply a wide range of marketing strategies in their recruitment operations. Sympathisers and members are recruited through propaganda and recruitment videos with three major stories. The content in these videos is characterized by brutality, utopianism and persecution (Bach-Lombardo 2016). The persecution stories are displayed explicitly in its propaganda. They utilize the dissatisfaction in the Middle East especially among the Sunni Muslims who it complains that they are suffering under the Iranian-allied authority. Similarly, its propaganda attempts to take advantage of any anger among Sunni Muslims living in western countries (Zhang 2015). The films normally display Muslims especially defenceless children being murdered because of airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. On the other hand, they are against western culture and request the Sunni brothers to maintain their sense of purpose and identity. Spiritual decrees issued by senior commanders of ISIS are also applied to communicate a message of obligation and duty to assist in the development of caliphate.

nTheir videos also show the normal existence in the caliphate in standardized terms. It promotes a picture of a flawlessly working community where Muslim work, and exist safely and happily based on their values (Irina 2016). In addition, the videos depict happy and healthy children, effective production in agriculture, modern infrastructure and efficient governance (Hatton and Nielsen 2016). The aim of utopian films is to show the benefits of living in a new state aiming to lure educated Muslims to ISIS powers. For instance, reports indicate that various professionals such as doctors, teachers and engineers have now moved to Syria and Iraq to work for ISIS. Professionals who work under the ISIS also encourage more people from the western nations to return to safe lives of the Muslim brothers (Al-Rawi 2016). They also display a sense of peacefulness, cleanliness, and normalcy as opposed to war.

nThe propaganda items also depict the accomplishment of the terrorist groups on the battlegrounds. In most cases, it shows an overstated degree of success and strength. Pictures of their military weapons, training camps, military parades, and dead Syrian military are effective in increasing the morale and excitement of adventurist and sympathisers. They also help to intimidate their perceived enemies (Hatton and Nielsen 2016). The main aim is to communicate an image of a tough and well-organized state with effective economic, social, political and military institutions. Documentaries that focus on the ISIS brutality towards its opponents especially the well-designed execution films gain main viewers attention and meet different goals. They are aimed at gaining the gratification and imagination of violence-susceptible persons and enhance an appearance of invincibility and triumph (Zhang 2015).

nThey also support the issue of persecution by enhancing the concept of sanctioned and divine vengeance against the nonbelievers who attack true Islam. Among aggressive viewers, the videos show the brutality of terrorist group is aimed at threatening the local people and depressing resistance. Furthermore, they are dedicated to initiate violence and provoke reactions from their global adversaries (Chang 2015). The ISIS pays more attention in production of high quality video showing persecution of western hostages by using more resources and engaging expertise. Moreover, those demonstrating the persecution of Muslim or Arab detainees also work to propagate its propaganda. For instance, in 2015, they released a video showing the persecution of a Jordanian pilot, which was intended for both their adversaries and supporters. Similarly, the video was released after some of countries in the Middle East such as the UAE, Kuwait and Jordan had joined a coalition against the ISIS (Hatton and Nielsen 2016). Consequently, UAE was forced to separate itself from the activities of the coalition in the air strikes.

nAll content distributed by the ISIS are securely controlled. Materials are branded with their logos because they have hired expertise to help them in dissemination of propaganda in different languages (Rose 2014). It also applies some of its hostages for that drive. British reporter – John Cantlie was captured in 2014 and is believed to be forced to cover all the ISIS activities in English (Saltman 2016). He has produced many stories offering inflated occurrences and operations of the ISIS. The main advantage of using French and English spokespersons in production is that it can create superstar status among its supporters (Shamieh and Szenes 2015).

nCoverage of the media on ISIS

nThe ISIS has initiated its own way of delivering its propaganda especially via Western media covering it to intensify its message. Reports indicated that stories on ISIS are among the most viewed and read news across the globe. Their news items normally trend on international search platforms (Zhang 2015). The theatrical and ruthless character of the documentaries that the terrorists normally publish has succeeded in drawing attention of the young women and men in Western nations. In addition, the group is also portrayed as a great evil, which has increased the audiences attention and interest (Al-Rawi 2016). The saturation reporting also assist the ISIS to accomplish a height that it is not worthy of. Similarly, this helps to gain more followers and introduce fear among its opponents.

nUnsuspectingly, the Western media has turn out to an accessory to ISIS objectives. In fact, the action is self-sustaining because it is encouraged by fascination and fear from the public, which continue to demand more information on the terrorist organization and its operations (Gartenstein-Ross 2015). As the demand of the audiences increases, the western media continue to depend on the material from the group as its main source. Based on the nature of dangers involved in covering events from Iraq and Syria, the traditional media is unwilling to send reporters in these countries (Hatton and Nielsen 2016). Consequently, the mainstream media rely heavily on images and videos generated and dispersed by the terrorist group. In this regard, ISIS has succeeded in exercising substantial control over the manner in which it is portrayed (Irina 2016). The traditional media lack the capacity to verify this news, suggesting that reports about ISIS normally depend on information produced and disseminated by the terrorist organization itself.

nFurthermore, the organization has been very efficient in shutting up critics, activists and journalists. Lack of credible information interrogating the authority of ISIS indicate that there are inadequate sources of information to give an account of reality in those regions (Al-khateeb and Agarwal 2015). The main reason why the traditional media has decided to use content produced by the ISIS is that there are no journalists on the ground to cover events. In addition, the group now produce high quality contents that are easily accessible. Television broadcaster experience major challenges in this regard because the terrorist group produce contents that are specifically for the TVs (Al-Khateeb and Agarwal 2016). The videos and images are of high creation values. ISIS has also established skilled at adapting its press releases to western cycle of news. Video with huge impact showing their brutality are normally dispersed following a military obstructions aiming to draw attention from possibly negative reporting (Zhang 2015). They are also released during silent events to guarantee that they dictate the media headlines. In this respect, it indicates a public relations approach, which is designed to exploit exposure.

nThe demand for ISIS news has led to publication of boasts and threats made by international militias without any obvious values. Some posts on Facebook and Twitter from these groups have become news items. Unfortunately, this kind of news could increase the ability of the jihadist organizations to recruit more followers (Hatton and Nielsen 2016). Incapacity of the mainstream media to verify information from the group has led to ISIS propaganda being taken as fact. For instance, in 2015, a number of media outlets reported that ISIS has captured Dema City in Libya, which was regarded as fact, but the group was not even present in the area. It took a long time before this error was corrected (Gartenstein-Ross 2015). Other media spread information that the group had created a nuclear weapon. However, this claim took several days before it could be corrected.

nThe response of the media

nThe media values and practices in covering ISIS group and its activities have evolved. In the more recent past, news broadcasters and editors are increasingly aware of the fact that ISIS group can manipulate traditional media for achieving its own goals and objectives (Shamieh and Szenes 2015). In this regard, they have initiated internal regulation to assist in mitigating the objectives of propaganda in the information released. Consequently, the media organizations have developed approaches of dealing with the content in various ways. Firstly, it is treating the content as propaganda. Secondly, they normally ignore videos and other contents that may be a source of offence or harm (Saltman 2016). Finally, media outlets have now refused to air particular threats that targets Western nations.

nNonetheless, most government have not developed policies that can guide in the regulation of how terrorist activities are reported or covered. In addition, many traditional media have commercial requirements and the fact that news related to ISIS is sensational hence they are good for their advertisements and newspapers sales leading to higher income (Hatton and Nielsen 2016). The consequent pressure is not always decided in relation to the interest of the public because media stations proceed to publish terrifying, dramatic and sensational materials. In countries such as France, the TV outlets have initiated policy of identifying and eliminating contents from ISIS as propaganda in almost all cases (Blaker 2015). Text and logos classifying the information as produced by the ISIS are edited or blurred out in an effort to prevent measures that promote terrorism further. Furthermore, governments in many countries such as Australia, France and UK have encouraged the media owners to use the belittling acronym ‘Daesh to refer to the group but this has not taken place (Hatton and Nielsen 2016).

nVarious media stations in Australia and the UK normally omit or blur more violent and graphic content. However, media in these countries are normally criticized for not mitigating the possible propaganda values. For instance, France 24, BBC and ABC News and a number of other media outlets utilize selected settings that eliminate cases of deaths to evade needless offence to families of the victims and maintain the self-esteem of the victims. They are also intended to avoid preventable trauma (Chang 2015). The mainstream media has more knowledgeable of the intentions of these contents hence they have begun to apply more controls by airing less propaganda information or covering on their actions without providing images from the videos. For example, the Guardian has formulated an internal guideline on the publication of materials from the ISIS propaganda content. For instance, it avoids utilizing videos or images that depict the perpetrator. It only uses edited pictures of the captives (Zhang 2015).

nReports also show that although the mainstream media do not provide entire coverage of the video propaganda from the terrorist, there are a number of ways, which they proceed to advance the objectives of the group. When the traditional media cover the contents of the videos, they normally guide their viewers or readers to the source where they can download the whole item, which gives it more currency (Al-Rawi 2016). Similarly, editing the instances of death in the films does not automatically minimize the vivid effect to the victims. The media is normally less discriminating and selective in its utilization of videos that provide the kind of life in the Caliphate (Leong 2015). For instance, videos showing an Australian doctor encouraging more professionals to return and work in the area were wholly aired without describing the content as propaganda.

nThe coverage of ISIS propaganda in the western media has added advantage to the group. By portraying the group as brutal and barbaric, it assists the ISIS group in its objectives of inserting fear among the people (Sheetz 2015). On the other hand, condemnation of ISIS and it values may help to reinforce and harden the beliefs of its sympathisers in the eastern countries. It also supports the need to search for more video and narratives via social media and radical platforms (Rose 2014).

nResponses from Corporates and Governments

nCurrently, various governments are working to develop policies that would control the messaging of ISIS from accessing the public. More recently, governments have encouraged media outlets to develop internal mechanisms to prevent coverage of ISIS propaganda in the video and images (Al-khateeb and Agarwal 2015). Furthermore, corporates and authorities have tried to censor the social media aiming to mute the reporters in covering the news. They argue that by doing so, they would be able to safeguard the national security (Shamieh and Szenes 2015). Although the government has attempted to establish and encourage control in the social media, little has taken place with regard to self-regulation in the news outlets.

nCompanies that own social media have collaborated with governments to help in suspending the accounts owned by the ISIS or their supporters especially on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other sites. For instance, Twitter has stated that any individual who shared images showing terrorist activities would experience termination of his/her account (Leong 2015). Reports suggest that more than 1500 accounts of ISIS supporters are suspended weekly. In Europe, the EU has initiated a taskforce obliged to terminate accounts and delete terrorism propaganda from the social media (Zelin 2015). In 2010, the UK government has also launched a similar initiative aiming to counter the efforts of terrorists. Therefore, government officials work with corporation to eliminate any content on the social media or the Internet that incites or exalts terrorist activities (Zhang 2015). The British Army has also developed a distinct unit to carry out non-lethal combat against ISIS with an aim of fighting its online stories.

nHowever, various reports have questioned the effectiveness of these activities. For instance, data show that, when an account is terminated, many new accounts are created. In 2014, approximately 45 000 ISIS supporters had more than 1000 Twitter followers each. This means that they have a huge following and are more active than normal users (Berger 2015). In addition, terminated accounts are re-created more easily under new names, which increase their fans and even gaining a status of celebrity among the supporters for the reason that they have been identified as an adversary of the Western nations.

nThe ability of the government to regulate the mainstream media to control ISIS influence have gained mixed results. The United Kingdom Parliament has tried to empower the watchdog institutions such as Ofcom. The main aim is to help in executing measures against media companies that broadcast extremist content (Harmanşah 2015). Therefore, the institution is mandated to scrutinize documentary and news that could be deemed to propagate terrorist activities. However, this has created opposition because it has been viewed as undermining freedom of expression.

nConclusion

nIn the recent past, the ISIS has developed a strategy to use the western media in order to meet its propaganda aims. It efforts are geared towards creating contents that are disseminated via the media. Since mainstream media cannot send reports in the battleground, they rely on the materials released from these groups (Al-khateeb and Agarwal 2015). Based on the brutality associated to terrorist groups activities, they are able to sustain more media coverage and interest. The political environment, power and culture in western countries, also assist in accomplishing propaganda aims of the group. Specifically, the inflammatory journalism concerning the Muslim community in the perspective of terrorism has also created a polarising outcome, which supports ISIS messages.

n

nReferences

nAl-khateeb, S. and Agarwal, N., 2015, March. Analyzing Deviant Cyber Flash Mobs of ISIL on Twitter. In International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction (pp. 251-257). Springer International Publishing.

nAl-Khateeb, S. and Agarwal, N., 2016. Understanding Strategic Information Manoeuvres In Network Media To Advance Cyber Operations: A Case Study Analysing Pro-Russian Separatistscyber Information Operations In Crimean Water Crisis. Journal On Balti C Security, 2(1), P.6.

nAl-Rawi, A., 2016. Video games, terrorism, and ISISs Jihad 3.0. Terrorism and Political Violence, pp.1-21.

nBach-Lombardo, C., 2016. Why ISIS Propaganda Works. [online] The Atlantic. Available from: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/02/isis-propaganda-war/462702/ [Accessed 4 Dec. 2016].

nBerger, J.M., 2015. The Metronome of Apocalyptic Time: Social Media as Carrier Wave for Millenarian Contagion. Perspectives on Terrorism, 9(4).

nBlaker, L., 2015. The Islamic States Use of Online Social Media. Military Cyber Affairs, 1(1), p.4.

nChang, M.D., 2015. Trolling new media: violent extremist groups recruiting through social media (Doctoral dissertation, Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School).

nGartenstein-Ross, D., 2015. Jihad 2.0: social media in the next evolution of terrorist recruitment. Full Committee Hearing, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 7.

nHarmanşah, Ö., 2015. ISIS, Heritage, and the Spectacles of Destruction in the Global Media. Near Eastern Archaeology, 78(3), pp.170-177.

nHatton, A.T. and Nielsen, M.E., 2016. ‘War on Terrorin our backyard: effects of framing and violent ISIS propaganda on anti-Muslim prejudice. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, pp.1-14.

nIrina, I.R., 2016. Mass Media and Terrorism: Instruments and Strategies.

nLeong, D., 2015. Why ISIS Appeals to Muslim Women in Western Countries: Need for Counter Message. RSIS Commentary, (136).

nRose, S., 2014. The Isis propaganda war: a hi-tech media jihad. [online] the Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/07/isis-media-machine-propaganda-war [Accessed 4 Dec. 2016].

nSaltman, E.M., 2016. Western Female Migrants to ISIS: Propaganda, Radicalisation. Combating Violent Extremism and Radicalization in the Digital Era, p.174.

nShamieh, L. and Szenes, Z., 2015. The Propaganda of ISIS/DAESH through the Virtual Space. Defence Against Terrorism Review-DATR, p.7.

nSheetz, M., 2015. How ISIS Is Using High-Tech Tools for Planning and Propaganda. [online] The Fiscal Times. Available from: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/12/04/How-ISIS-Using-High-Tech-Tools-Planning-and-Propaganda [Accessed 4 Dec. 2016].

nZelin, A.Y., 2015. Picture or it didnt happen: A snapshot of the Islamic States official media output. Perspectives on Terrorism, 9(4).

nZhang, X., 2015. Media coverage of the ISIS threat: Transnational media and global journalism (Doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University).