The Media World of ISIS

From efficient instructions on how to kill civilians to horrifying videos of beheadings, no terrorist organization has more comprehensively weaponized social media than ISIS. Its strategic, multiplatformed campaign is so effective that it has ensured global news coverage and inspired hundreds of young people around the world to abandon their lives and their countries to join a foreign war. The Media World of ISIS explores the characteristics, mission, and tactics of the organization's use of media and propaganda. Contributors consider how ISIS's media strategies imitate activist tactics, legitimize its self-declared caliphate, and exploit narratives of suffering and imprisonment as propaganda to inspire followers. Using a variety of methods, contributors explore the appeal of ISIS to Westerners, the worldview made apparent in its doctrine, and suggestions for counteracting the organization's approaches. Its highly developed, targeted, and effective media campaign has helped make ISIS one of the most recognized terrorism networks in the world. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of its strategies―what worked and why―will help combat the new realities of terrorism in the 21st century.

Ryan S. Bisel, PhD., is an Associate Professor of Organizational Communication, in the Department of Communication at the University of Oklahoma.

Jacqueline S. Bruscella, PhD., is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Communication, in the Department of Communication and Media at the State University of New York, College at Oneonta.

Arthi Chandrasekaran is a Doctoral Student at Wayne State University.

Jason A. Edwards is a Professor of Communication Studies at Bridgewater State University and a Research Fellow with BSU's Center for Democratic Governance and Leadership. He is the author of Navigating the Post-Cold War World: President Clinton's Foreign Policy Rhetoric, and co-editor of The Rhetoric of American Exceptionalism: Critical Essays, and The Rhetoric of Civil Religion: Symbols, Sinners, and Saints.

Michaela Edwards is a recent graduate of Middle Tennessee State University's College of Liberal Arts with a focus in Rhetoric and Organizational Communication.

Kareem El Damanhoury is a PhD candidate in the Communication Department at
Georgia State University. His research focuses on visual communication and the framing of
international conflicts.

Kathleen M. German is a Professor in the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at
Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She is the author of Promises of Citizenship: Film
Recruitment of African Americans in World War II, The Ethics of Emerging Media, Queer Identity/Political Reality, and Principles ofPublic Speaking.

Brian Hughes is a PhD student in the School of Communication at the American University in
Washington, DC. He is the author of the Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus Teacher's Guide.

Marwan M. Kraidy is the Anthony Shadid Chair in Media, Politics and Culture, and Director of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. His latest book is The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World.

Michael Krona is an Assistant Professor in Media and Communication Studies and Visual Communication at Malmö University, Sweden. He works within a nationally funded research-project in Sweden exploring Salafi-jihadist information operations, with particular focus on ISIS communication practices.

Matthew Pascarella is an independent researcher.

Rosemary Pennington in an Assistant Professor in Miami University's Department of Media, Journalism, and Film. She's the co-editor, with Hilary Kahn, of On Islam: Muslims and the Media.

Nicholas Prephan is a Doctoral Candidate at Wayne State University.

Patrick G. Richey, Ph.D., Director of Forensics & Associate Professor, Middle Tennessee State University. He most recently edited the International Public Debate Association Textbook.

John Vilanova is a PhD candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

William Lafi Youmans is an Associate Professor at George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. He is the author of Unlikely Audience: Al Jazeera's Struggle inAmerica.