ISIS Beheadings: Media Coverage and Censorship

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Running Head: ISIS BEHEADING
ISIS BEHEADING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:
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ISIS BEHEADINGS
Introduction
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is a radical Islamic terrorist organization that aims to
establish an “Islamic State”. It has its bases in Syria and Iraq, where it is in a war with the
government forces to establish its control. In 2014 ISIS kidnapped a journalist called Steven
Sotloff, and beheaded him in order to send “message to America” to stop the airstrikes (Carter
and Fantz 2014).
Reported in Various Media
The Video that was released by ISIS showed the American journalist who was working
with several leading media houses like Time Magazine, CNN, NBC and various others, being
killed by one ISIS terrorist after he accused the American policy towards Iraq for the killing. The
video was widely circulated in social media which created a panic among general people about
how ISIS menace is on the loose and needs to be controlled immediately. The gruesome video
was circulated without any censorship, and many people accused the American Government of
inaction. However, YouTube had removed the video soon from its contents. This is how social
media reported the incident.
The traditional media like the newspapers had all condemned the killing and stated that
the journalists working in the civil war zones needs to be provided with protection, as such
abductions were becoming common. Israeli newspapers stated that the journalist, being a Jews
had close connections with the country (Kamin 2014). On the other hand, UK newspapers
reported how some of the terrorists linked to the execution were from UK (Hume 2014).
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ISIS BEHEADINGS
New media consists of the social media, blogs and applications through which news is
casted. The new media is interactive and the killing of the US journalist got condemned by all
the sections of the society.
Conclusion
The difference between reporting in traditional media and new media is the openness and
level of censorship. The news articles printed in the newspapers or broadcasted in the TV
channels go through heavy censorship and editing according to the policy of the media house, on
the other hand new media and social media offers an open and interactive platform.
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ISIS BEHEADINGS
Reference:
Carter, C. and Fantz, A., 2014. ISIS video shows beheading of Steven Sotloff - CNN. [online]
CNN. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/02/world/meast/isis-american-journalist-
sotloff/index.html [Accessed 16 Mar. 2018].
Hume, T., 2014. ISIS "Beatles" who beheaded James Foley and Steven Sotloff could face a U.S.
trial. [online] VICE News. Available at: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/pampnk/british-isis-
killers-behind-foley-and-sotloff-beheading-could-face-us-trial [Accessed 16 Mar. 2018].
Kamin, D., 2014. Steven Sotloff, killed by Islamic State, had deep roots in Israel. [online]
Timesofisrael.com. Available at: https://www.timesofisrael.com/steve-sotloff-beheaded-by-isis-
militants-had-deep-roots-in-israel/ [Accessed 16 Mar. 2018].
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