The age of terrorism media: The visual narratives of the Islamic State Group's Dabiq magazine

Abstract

Soon after the Islamic State group declared itself to be the new 'Caliphate' on June 28, 2014, it launched an official transnational English-language magazine called Dabiq. The magazine, with a global outreach that transcended national and regional boundaries, covered the group's strategic direction, military strategy, and alliances. This research seeks to explain the crucial role its photographs had in framing the group's visual narratives and how these narratives transformed over time. Drawing on recent literature, this work discusses the new trends in terrorism media and incorporates new ways to operationalize and measure framing in the context of visual communication and global terrorism. The work concludes by a discussion of the global implications of the findings and points out limitations and suggestions for future research.