Politics and Society announces its new publication “Secrets of the Media and Ideology of the State Organization (ISIS)”

      The Institute of Politics and Society unveiled its latest publication, the book “Secrets of the Media and Ideology of the Islamic State (ISIS)” by researcher Dr. Marwan Shehadeh. The book is considered a descriptive and analytical study to reveal the potentials and secrets of the communicative discourse of what is known as the “Islamic State” by analyzing the content of the ideological discourse in the editorials of Al-Naba’ weekly newspaper issued by the Central Media Bureau, the only body responsible for the organization’s media publications during the period from October 2015 to December. In an attempt to learn the secrets of the media machine of ISIS organization.

      The importance of the book stems from its quest to interpret, diagnose and analyze the content of the ideological discourse of the “Islamic State” in the editorials of Al-Naba newspaper, which is a clear and highly expressive reflection of the ideology of the organization, which has become the focus of attention and study by researchers and decision-makers in recent years, especially after his speech became effective and influential in the political and military scene in many countries of the world.

      The book seeks to achieve a set of goals, the most important of which is to know the ability of the editorials of the weekly Al-Naba newspaper to express the ideas and ideology of the “Islamic State” and present the founding ideas of the organization’s ideology and its religious, political, social and economic goals and means, in addition to presenting the components of the content of the organization’s communicative discourse and clarification of the historical relationship amid the armed Islamic movements, led by the “Islamic State” organization, with media and communication in general and digital communication in particular, in addition to identifying the attitude of the organization’s media towards the other in its communication discourse and knowing the main ideas of issues, topics and events raised by the newspaper’s editorials.
 
      Through the study conducted by the researcher, the book attempts to provide answers to several important and prominent questions, namely:   What is the path of the establishment and development of the “Islamic State” and how did it manage its regime? What are the nature, sources, components and formulas of the Islamic State’s religious and political ideology? What are the topics and issues covered by the newspaper in its editorial content? What are the main ideas of the issues, topics and events that were presented in the newspaper’s editorials? Who are the actors that Al-Nabaa weekly newspaper focused on, and how did the newspaper present them? What were their roles characterized? What are the objectives that Al-Nabaa newspaper sought to achieve? How did the newspaper’s editorials contribute to framing its audience with the vocabulary and components of the ideas and ideology of the “Islamic State” organization?  

      The book deals with how the organization can get the advantage of the new media, especially the digital media, because of its high capacity and effectiveness in the process of change, influence, public opinion formation, and public mobilization and that is through establishing its own media means represented by the Central Media Bureau and its media institutions, especially in light of the state of the world’s media means closing their doors to the organization and its ideas and rejecting and criminalizing everything it issues as a banned terrorist group.
      The book explains the importance of the media for the “Islamic State” organization and its clear dependence on it in recent years and all its written, audio and visual forms because it has a great impact on the target audience and contributes to the media war that these groups are waging in parallel with the military war, The organization considers the media battle to be no less important than the battle of the fighting and calls on its supporters who believe in its ideology to contribute to the media effort, describing whoever does this work as a “Media Mujahid”.

      The book presents the objectives that the media apparatus aims at in the organization by adopting a media strategy proposed in the famous book titled “Savagery Management: The Most Dangerous Stage the Islamic Ummah Goes Through.”, which is considered by researchers and experts as the strategic and ideological reference for the organization, as this strategy aims to focus on two categories: the category of peoples so that they motivate the largest number of them to join the jihadi movements, and the second category is the enemy soldiers with minimum salaries to push them to join or escape from military service, in addition to understanding the opponents’ media policy and dealing with it to win the military and political battle to ensure that the organization’s media message reaches the general public and not the elites, and to ensure that the media message reaches the same extent that military operations are secured, and the organization’s media coverage of safe areas in fields of savagery management would attract people to migration and movement towards this area.
The book reveals the details of the work of the media machine of the Islamic State and the structure of its media apparatus represented by the Central Media Diwan, which is the body responsible for all written, audio and visual media publications, and which includes under its umbrella five major official media institutions, namely: Al-Furqan Foundation for Media Production, Al-Hayat Foundation, Al-Nabaa Weekly Newspaper, Ajnad Foundation, Al-Bayan Radio, and media offices in the states, in addition to four magazines: Dabiq in English, Dar al-Islam in French, Al-Manba` in Russian, and Constantinople in Turkish, along with the supporters who form the backbone of publishing, distribution and recruitment in the virtual community and the Department of Languages and Translation.

      The book deals with the feminist aspect of the jihadist media of the organization and its inclusion of the female element in its media machine and its propaganda institutions, the use of women in the media field within the sections designated for women in the forums, and the establishment of Aisha’s granddaughters’ media institution, a media organization supervised by the females only. This institution contributes to publishing, distribution, montage, design and writing and translation.

       The book explains how the Internet is used to disseminate the ideas and ideology of the organization and the use of the Internet by organizations and groups of the organization for cultural and polarizing purposes at all levels by providing and providing religious, intellectual, security and military information related to the Salafi-jihadi ideology, recruitment, polarization, mobilization, psychological warfare and counter-propaganda, in addition to providing theoretical and practical training on organizational, security and military work, obtaining donations and logistical support, as well as monitoring, follow-up and media monitoring of violators and opponents, responding to suspicions and criticisms faced by the organization, and publishing and archiving visual, audio and written publications.

      
       The book explains how to distinguish the media publications of armed Islamic groups and verify the authenticity of a particular media version that is issued by a particular group and is not forged by any other party, based on several criteria, including the necessity of the media material being issued by a particular group and bearing the name of the group and its media agency and matching the sound effects of the ideology of these groups, the media material mustn’t include music and pictures of women with their faces uncovered or the features of the body clear, and the recitation of some Qur’anic verses and Nasheeds as sound effects, in addition to the use of Standard Arabic, which is the official language of publications, and the use of foreign languages in publications oriented to foreign countries and peoples such as English, French and German, in addition to the fact that most media publications, except for official issues of the groups, mostly contain violent scenes of killing, bombing, military attack and the sounds of bullets.

       The book talks about the objectives of the media message content of the armed Islamic groups in general in the visual, audio and written versions, which are generally represented in the call to disseminate
 the ideas, beliefs and ideology of the group, mobilization, recruitment and polarization in addition to news, media, propaganda, incitement and fundraising, as well as introducing its political project represented in the caliphate and the defense of wealth and existence

 

Politics and Society Institute

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