Powerful Images: ISIS

In today’s bustling, breakneck paced, information sharing world, media is now more than ever a part of our daily lives. The multitude of platforms to consume media is exponentially growing every year, and even companies are having hard time catching up with the latest trends. Most recently, the terrorist cell ISIS thinks that it is a good way to disseminate their beliefs to the rest of the unknowing world through controversial images and videos.

The media that ISIS put up online has proven over and over again to stir up controversy in the news media. The Huffington Post mentions that news networks such as Fox, consistently puts ISIS media out as top stories. The funny thing is that even when they reject to actually show these images, cable news networks usually provide 24/7 coverage when ISIS media is released, giving it immense air time.

Social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, and Youtube also have gone out of their way to quickly delete ISIS content as fast as they come out, but even their efforts are too slow compared to the sharing speed of the internet.

But, this blatant censorship of ISIS content is exactly what ISIS wants. It wants to pique the interest of the general public, to make us curious to check out their video. To see how “controversial” and “disturbing” their content actually is. It also doesn’t help that after these companies hide the actual videos, they continue to talk about it, almost as if they are teasing us about how horrible it was. The New York times gives an example of how the New York Post said they would not provide a link to the ISIS media, but “chose to publish a cover featuring a still from the video just moments before the killing.” So, even if it seems as if social media is trying to stop the spread of the message from ISIS, hiding it only increases the want to watch.  

The whole point of having the freedom of press, is that no image, statement, or video is “too graphic” for the general public to see. As a population that lives in such a country that promotes free speech, we should be able to have access to these images. There should always been a viewer discretion warning before hand, but the content should be accessible for anyone at anytime.

I also agree with Matthew Ingram who said “For whatever it’s worth, I think we owe it to Foley — and others who risk their lives to report the news — to watch the video, out of respect for their commitment.” As a professional, Foley knew what he was getting into and to completely cover up the work he has done seems a bit disrespectful.

The way social media and the news manipulates “disturbing” content, is actually doing more harm that just letting the public have access to view them. These images ultimately will help people understand the true horror of ISIS and their work, instead of just reporting/hearing secondhand accounts. By allowing media outlets censor the propaganda of ISIS, we are inherently allow them to permeate through our lives more than we think.