The propaganda war
The terrorists’ vicious message is surprisingly hard to rebut
A MASKED man stands behind a kneeling victim preparing to slit his throat, put a bullet in his head, or slice it off with a sword. Islamic State (IS) did not invent this gory bit of stagecraft, but it has now, in effect, taken ownership of it. Televised murder—all too often mass-murder—is the main trademark for the group’s particular brand of jihadism. Its most recent appearance was on August 12th, when it circulated macabre pictures showing the body of a Croatian hostage purportedly beheaded in Egypt. Such images are appalling; that they have become familiar is even more so.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “The propaganda war”
From the August 15th 2015 edition
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