Islamic State eyes 24-hour news service

The Islamic State movement (also known by the acronyms ISIL, ISIS or just IS) may best be known for its brutal construction of a medieval caliphate, but its media is decidedly forward thinking. Not only are the extremists who’ve conquered vast swaths of Iraq and Syria adept at using social media to disseminate often grotesque images for propaganda purposes, they’ve now adopted the increasingly fashionable trend of producing TV content exclusively for online delivery. According to the news site Vocativ, ISIL is reportedly preparing to kick off a 24-hour news network called the Islamic Caliphate Broadcast.

Of course, groups like ISIL are in no position to secure legal access to cable or broadcast networks and have therefore relied entirely on Internet and social media distribution of their video output. But that’s a trend taking root in the mainstream television industry too. 

ABC and CBS have launched live-streaming news channels, HBO is offering a standalone subscription for its online streaming service, and Netflix and Amazon have enjoyed successful forays into streaming-only original series.

ISIL, because of its circumstances and agenda, is unlikely to bother with a big plunge into traditional cable TV news. Its new channel will broadcast the group’s propaganda entirely online at the site KhilafaLive.info, Vocativ said. The website showed up last week, but has since gone dark, and no further updates were provided about when it is supposed to resume. The live programming is said to include offerings such as a show called “Time to Recruit,” as well as a daily news program and a video series by John Cantlie — a British journalist being held captive by ISIL.

Cantlie, seized by the group in 2012 while reporting on the Syrian conflict, has appeared since September 2014 in numerous ISIL-produced videos. In them, he denounces Western strikes against ISIL and offers a tour of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the biggest prize to fall into the group’s hands.

Islamic Caliphate Broadcast isn’t ISIL’s first media venture — it already runs an FM radio station called Al-Bayan from Mosul, as well as a satellite TV channel called Tawheed in Libya, according to The Independent newspaper.

Last year the group launched the English-language magazines Islamic State News and Islamic State Report, as well as a series of recruitment videos on YouTube in which English-speaking young men brandish firearms and urge Westerners to join their fight. YouTube has since removed the videos for violating the company’s terms of service.

J.M. Berger, a Washington-based analyst who writes about extremist movements, told The Washington Post that he thinks the new ISIL website could be a hoax created by supporters of the movement. “My best guess is this is a fanboy effort," he said.

Extremist groups have for decades displayed an awareness that mainstream media coverage of spectacular acts of violence gives them a presence in the public imagination far in excess of their actual numbers. ISIL appears to have taken the principle a step forward in the age of splintering social media — by creating a media caliphate of their own.