Behind the Scenes of Al-Qa`ida’s Media Strategy

Jihadi terrorist organizations view their media opportunities as weapons in their war against the West. While there is a considerable body of work discussing the content and form of Al-Qa\u27ida\u27s media, including both their written press and video products, we have significantly less information on what goes on behind the scenes: how the tactical elements and strategic goals are designed and implemented to generate these products. The paper asserts that while we still have insufficient information on the media strategies of the Islamic State, due to the ideological, operational and network-to-network continuity between the two organizations, the documents shedding a light on Al-Qa\u27ida\u27s press efforts can serve as valuable resources in understanding present-day (and maybe the future of) jihadi media as well