Validating extremism
Strategic use of authority appeals in al-Naba’ infographics
Daesh’s centralized media operations provide a steady stream of media products to citizens living in and around its controlled territories, with the result that several nations occupied or adjacent to the group have emerged as many of the most fruitful recruiting grounds for new members. To better understand the argumentation strategies targeting such audiences, this study examines the 119 infographics in the first 50 issues of Daesh’s official weekly Arabic newsletter, al-Naba’. The findings suggest that through a patterned application of statistical, historical, religious, and scientific arguments from authority to predictable topical areas, the infographics in al-Naba’ reinforce Daesh as a key source of information for the citizenry of the proclaimed caliphate.
Article outline
- 1.Al-Naba’: An overview
- 2.Infographics in al-Naba’
- 3.Arguments from authority: An overview
- 4.Use of arguments from authority in al-Naba’ infographics
- 4.1Statistical authority & campaign success
- 4.2Historical authority & enemy relationships
- 4.3Religious authority & social values
- 4.4Scientific authority & public health/safety
- 4.5Evolution of appeals to authority in al-Naba’ infographics
- 5.Summary and conclusions
- Note
-
References
References
Al-Naba’ infographic archive
2016 The Certified Archive for Uploads. Al-Naba’ Newspaper 18 April 2016 Retrieved from /
[URL]
Al-Hudhud, Ibrahim Salah
2016 “
Using religious texts for justifying acts of violence – Review and response.”
Arab Media & Society. Retrieved from
[URL]
Al-Shayea, Muhammad Abdel-Rahman
1997 The Meccan and Medinan in the Noble Qur’an. Retrieved from
[URL]
Al-Yaqoubi, Shaykh Muhammad
2015 Refuting ISIS: A Rebuttal of its Religious and Ideological Foundations. Sacred Knowledge.

Amlund, Jeanne, Janet Gaffney and Raymond W. Kulhavy
1985 “
Map feature content and text recall in good and poor readers.”
Journal of Literacy Research 17(4): 330–317.


Archetti, Christina
2014 “
(Mis)communication Wars: Terrorism, counter-terrorism, and the media.” In
Propaganda, Power and Persuasion: From World War I to Wikileaks, ed. by
David Welch, 161–170. London: I.B. Tauris.


Baskaran, Archit
2015 “
The Islamic State (Daesh) healthcare paradox: A caliphate in crisis.”
The Journal of Global Health. Retrieved from
[URL]
Bauer, Kristóf
2015 “
How to Deal with the Islamic State? An Analysis of the Terrorist State.” Ms., Center for Geopolitics and Security in Realism Studies. Retrieved from
[URL]
Bekhit, Elsayed
2009 “
Infographics in the United Arab Emirates newspapers.”
Journalism 10(4): 492–508.


Bochenski, Joseph M.
1974 “
An analysis of authority.” In
Authority, ed. by
Frederick J. Adelman, 56–85. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.


Burke, Kenneth
1969 A Grammar of Motives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Chaiken, Shelly, Akiva Liberman and Alice Eagly
1989 “
Heuristic and systematic information processing within and beyond the persuasion context.” In
Unintended Thought, ed. by
James S. Uleman and
John A. Bargh, 212–252. New York: Guilford.

Cox, J. Robert
1990 “
Memory, critical theory, and the argument from history.”
Argumentation and Advocacy 27(1): 1–13.


Cummings, Louise
2014 “
The ‘trust’ heuristic: Arguments from authority in public health.”
Health Communication 29(10): 1043–1056.


Eagly, Alice H. and Shelly Chaiken
1993 The Psychology of Attitudes. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.

El-Labban, Sherif Darwish
2016 “
Reading the media and cultural strategy of Daesh organization.”
Journal of Arab Media & Society. Retrieved from
[URL]
El-Seifi, Hassan Niyazi
2016 “
Daesh’s use of social media.”
Journal of Arab Media & Society. Retrieved from
[URL]
Farrell, Thomas B.
2008 “
Rhetoric in history as theory and praxis: A blast from the past.”
Philosophy and Rhetoric 41(4): 323–336.


Giere, Ronald N.
2001 “
A new framework for teaching scientific reasoning.”
Argumentation 15(1): 21–33.


Gill, Paul and Emily Corner
2015 “
Lone-actor terrorist use of the Internet and behavioural correlates.” In
Terrorism Online: Politics, Law, Technology and Unconventional Violence, ed. by
Lee Jarvis,
Stuart MacDonald and
Thomas M. Chen. London, UK: Routledge.

Gill, Paul, Emily Corner, Maura Conway, Amy Thornton, Mia Bloom and John Horgan
2017 “
Terrorist use of the Internet by the numbers: Quantifying behaviors, patterns, and processes.”
Criminology & Public Policy 16(1): 99–117.


Gill, Paul, John Horgan and Paige Deckert
2013 “
Bombing alone: Tracing the motivations and antecedent behaviors of lone-actor terrorists.”
Journal of Forensic Sciences 59(2): 425–435.


Griffin, Michael
2004 “
Picturing America’s ‘war on terrorism’ in Afghanistan and Iraq: Photographic motives as news frames.”
Journalism 5(4): 381–402.


Griffin, Jeffrey L. and Robert L. Stevenson
1996 “
The influence of statistical graphics on newspaper reader recall.”
Visual Communication Quarterly 3(3): 9–11.


Hashem, Azza
2015 “
The Lure of ISIS: Why is the Western Youth Attracted to Daesh?” Ms., Regional Center for Strategic Studies. Retrieved from
[URL]
Halverson, Jeffrey R., H. Lloyd Goodall and Steven R. Corman
2011 Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.


Ingram, Haroro J.
2014 “
Three traits of the Islamic State’s information warfare.”
The RUSI Journal 159 (6): 4–11.


Kaplan, Michael
2015 “
Syrian’s civilian death toll: Number of ISIS victims in 2015 is much lower than Assad regime-inflicted casualties.”
International Business Times Retrieved from
[URL]
Kelly, James D.
1993 “
The effects of display format and data density on time spent reading statistics in text, tables, and graphics.”
Journalism Quarterly 70(1): 140–149.


Kovács, Attila
2014 “
The ‘new jihadists’ and the visual turn from al-Qa’ida to ISIL/ISIS/Da’ish.”
Bitzpol Affairs 2(5): 47–69.

La Palm, Marita
2014 “
Concerning features of the apocalyptic cult in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).”
Foreign Policy Journal. Retrieved from
[URL]
Lazard, Allison and Lucy Atkinson
2015 “
Putting environmental infographics center state: The role of the visuals at the elaboration likelihood model’s critical point of persuasion.”
Science Communication 37(1): 6–33.


Leone, Massimo
2015 “
Propaganda mala fide: Towards a comparative semiotics of violent religious persuasion.”
Semiotica 2015(207): 631–655.


Lombardi, Marco
2015 “
Islamic State communication project.”
Sizurezza, Terrorismo E Societa 11: 99–137.

McCants, William
2015 The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

McGee, Michael C.
1977 “
The fall of Wellington: A case study of the relationship between theory, practice and rhetoric in history.”
Quarterly Journal of Speech 63(1): 28–42.


Melki, Jad and Azza El-Masri
2016 “
The Paris attacks: Terror and recruitment.” In
Countering Daesh Propaganda: Action-Oriented Research for Practical Policy Outcomes, ed. by The Carter Center, 28–33. Retrieved from
[URL]
Milton, Daniel
(
2016,
Oct). “
Communication Breakdown: Unraveling the Islamic State’s Media Efforts.” Ms., Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, United States Military Academy. Retrieved from
[URL]
Naji, Abu B.
2006 “
The Management of Savagery: The Most Critical Stage through which the Umma Must Pass.” Ms., Retrieved from
[URL]
Nutting, Kurt
2002 “
Legal practices and the reason of the law.”
Argumentation 16(1): 109–131.


Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
2016 “
Report on the Protection of Civilians in the Armed Conflict in Iraq: 1 May – 31 October, 2015.” Ms. UNAMI Retrieved from
[URL]
Omar, Manal
2016 Countering extremist propaganda with an Islamic approach. In
Countering Daesh Propaganda: Action-Oriented Research for Practical Policy Outcomes, ed. by The Carter Center, 55–63. Retrieved from
[URL]
Pasternack, Steve and Sandra H. Utt
1990 “
Reader use and understanding of newspaper infographics.”
Newspaper Research Journal 11(2): 28–41.


Perelman, Chaïm and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca
1969 The New Rhetoric. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Peterson, Becky K.
1983 “
Tables and graphs improve reader performance and reader reaction.”
Journal of Business Communication 20(2): 47–55.


Petty, Richard E. and John T. Caccioppo
1986 Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change. New York: Springer Verlag.


Pfau, Michael W.
2005 “
Evaluating conspiracy: Narrative, argument, and ideology in Lincoln’s ‘House Divided’ speech.”
Argumentation and Advocacy 42(2): 57–73.


Poushter, Jacob
2015 “
In Nations with Significant Muslim Populations, Much Disdain for ISIS”. Ms., Pew Research Center. Retrieved from
[URL]
Prelli, Lawrence J.
1989 A Rhetoric of Science: Inventing Scientific Discourse. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.

Ramadan, Tariq
2007 In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Rasmussen, Nicholas J.
2015 “
Countering violent Islamist extremism: The urgent threat of foreign fighters and homegrown terror.”
Testimony presented at Hearing before the House Committee on Homeland Security. Retrieved from
[URL]
Schmid, Alex P.
2015 “
Challenging the Narrative of the ‘Islamic State.’” Ms., International Centre for Counter-Terrorism-The Hague database. Retrieved from
[URL].

Sedikides, Constantine and Tim Wildschut
2016 “
Past forward: Nostalgia as a motivational force.”
Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Retrieved from
[URL] 
Siboni, Gabi, Daniel Cohen and Tal Koren
2015 “
The Islamic State’s strategy in cyberspace.”
Military and Strategic Affairs 7(1): 127–144.

Smiciklas, Mark
2012 The Power of Infographics: Using Pictures to Communicate and Connect with Your Audiences. Indianapolis, IN: Que.

Styszynski, Marcin
2014 “
ISIS and Al Qaeda: Exposing the jihadist discourse.”
Counter-Terrorist Trends and Analysis 6(8): 9–14.

“
Support for ISIS in the Muslim world-perceptions vs. reality”
2015,
Dec 1.
Metrocosm.com. Retrieved from
[URL]
Tomé, Luís
2015 “
The <Islamic State>: Trajectory and reach a year after its self- proclamation as a <caliphate>.”
Janus.net 6(1): 116–139.

Toth, Christopher
2013 “
Revisiting a genre: Teaching infographics in business and professional communication courses.”
Business Communication Quarterly 76(4): 446–457.


Utt, Sandra H. and Steve Pasternack
1993 “
Infographics today: Using qualitative device to display quantitative information.”
Newspaper Research Journal 14(3–4): 146–155.


van Wilgenburg, Wladimir
2015 “
Fight them until there is no fitnah:” The Islamic State’s war with al-Qaeda,”
Terrorism Monitor 13(4): 6–9.

Vergani, Matteo and Ana-Maria Bliuc
2015 “
The evolution of the ISIS’ language: A quantitative analysis of the first year of Dabiq magazine.”
Sicurezza, Terrorismo, e Societá 21: 7–20.

von Behr, Ines. von, Reding, Anais., Edwards, Charles and Gribbon, Luke
(
2013) “
Radicalisation in the Digital Era: The Use of the Internet in 15 Cases of Terrorism and Extremism.” Ms., Rand, Santa Monica, CA. Retrieved from
[URL]
Wahid, Mary
2015 “
The Image: Reading Daesh’s Media Messages.” Ms., Arab Center for Research and Studies. Retrieved from
[URL]
Walton, Douglas
1997 Appeal to Expert Opinion: Arguments from Authority. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Weiss, Michael and Hassan Hassan
2015 ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. New York, NY: Regan Arts.

Wellman, Carl
1971 Challenge and Response: Justification in Ethics. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Winter, Charlie
2015 “
Islamic State propaganda: Key elements of the group’s messaging.”
Terrorism Monitor 13(2): 7–11.

Winter, Charlie
2016 “
Totalitarianism 101: The Islamic State’s online propaganda strategy.”
Lawfare. Retrieved from
[URL]
Woods, John and Douglas Walton
1974 “
Argumentation ad verecundiam.”
Philosophy and Rhetoric 71: 135–153.

Yahia, Maha
2014 “
The Fatal Attractiveness: 5 Reasons Youth Join Daesh.” Ms., Carnegie Endowment For International Peace. Retrieved from
[URL]
Young, James E.
1988 Writing and Rewriting the Holocaust Narrative and the Consequences of Interpretation. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.

Yourisk, Karen, Derek Watkins and Tom Giratikanon
2016,
Mar. 22. “
Where ISIS has directed and inspired attacks around the world.”
New York Times. Retrieved from
[URL]
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Winkler, Carol, Kareem El-Damanhoury, Zainab Saleh, John Hendry & Nagham El-Karhili
2021.
Intersections of ISIS media leader loss and media campaign strategy: A visual framing analysis.
Media, War & Conflict 14:4
► pp. 401 ff.

Winkler, Carol & Jonathan Pieslak
2018.
Multimodal visual/sound redundancy in ISIS videos: a close analysis of martyrdom and training segments.
Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism 13:3
► pp. 345 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.