Isis, communication to "media bait"

(by Barbara Faccenda) IS (islamic state), has devoted much time and resources to the realization and dissemination of its communication campaigns, especially in the intent of recruiting and stimulating for its followers on the battlefield.
We assume that at the heart of any inclusive communication campaign there are two types of messaging strategy: defensive and offensive (attack): by definition, counter-narratives are inherently defensive.
Successful communication campaigns combine both defensive and offensive messaging, with the latest dominating.
Counter-narratives merely respond to the messages of opposition, allowing the creators of the latter to establish the ground on which the battle of communication will be fought and to maintain control of the narrative.
Unless absolutely necessary, communication campaigns should avoid responding to opposition messages because it simply repeats and reinforces their message.
In itself, a campaign ends by talking about what the opponent wants to talk about, allowing him to establish the narrative. Responding to the opponent's messages, we allow him to establish the terrain on which the battle of communication will be fought.
The offensive messages that are hostile, by contrast, attack the opponent pushing him on the defensive, requiring a waste of resources to counter the message.
The means by which to take control of the narrative that establish the terms of the debate are fundamental.
Unlike the defensive messaging that focuses on the opponent's message, "going to the attack" gives the opportunity to spread their key messages.
The IS has developed a sophisticated strategy of "media bait" in which propaganda propaganda is built to obtain a typical response, in order to create opportunities for themselves to exploit previously packaged secondary messaging flows.
A well-known example, though cruel, is the video "healing the chest of believers", showing the burnt out Jordanian pilot: when the West responded with messages condemning the IS's barbarity, the latter was ready to respond by drawing attention to the hypocrisy of disapproval, since there were no similar demonstrations of disdain for Muslim children burned alive daily by aerial bombardments, thus proving that the West cared more about a pilot than so many Muslim civilians killed in the bombings.
In short, our hurry to respond has made (and unfortunately continues to do) the game of IS: with impatience in the competition to counteract their narrative, we run the risk, at best, to fight a war of words on their terms falling into their traps and reinforcing their narrative.
A recent example is the massive dissemination of a post on Twitter in which users of a Telegram channel suggested striking Italy. The diffusion through every means, TV, press, radio, debates, did nothing but strengthen the narrative of the IS, however distributing their main message: terror, fear and sense of insecurity.
Probably the greatest limit in these cases is the fragmented approach of communications and the lack of understanding of the real need for a multidimensional and integrated communication campaign. Successful communication campaigns are a complex construction, composed of multiple, different types of messages (offensive, defensive, identity, rational choice) distributed through multiform media (online, press, TV, radio, public speeches), all in support of a central narrative that is consolidated by synchronizing it with the action on the ground.
In addition to naïve, it is certainly bound to fail a communication campaign that only responds by focusing on a type of messaging in an isolated effort when there is an integrated campaign against it.
The sum of the IS communication campaign is certainly larger than its individual parts.
While politicians seem inclined to understand the scope and sophistication of the communication campaigns needed to get elected, the time has come to understand that the same effort must be made to deal with IS propaganda.

www.barbarafaccenda.it

Isis, communication to "media bait"