Effective communication: ‘IS strategy is carefully propagated’

Scholar says the group uses sophisticated tools

LAHORE:

The communication strategy employed by the Islamic State (IS) is far from mindless propaganda. The group varies its statements in accordance with the audience and uses sophisticated tools to reach out to potential recruits, Dr Chris Galloway, a specialist in public relations at New Zealand’s Massey University,  said on Friday.

He was delivering a talk on his research paper, Media Jihad: Lessons from Islamic State’s Public Relations Masterclass, at Forman Christian College University’s Centre for Public Policy and Governance (CPPG).

Dr Galloway said his research showed that the IS’s messages were tailored to the audience. “The statements used to communicate with the regional audience are very different from those used for the western audience,” he said.

Dr Galloway said so far the IS’s ‘media war’ had been successful in achieving its objectives. He urged public relations professionals to study the group’s statements for lessons on effective communication.

He said the group had established several departments to reach out to different audiences through modern media tools. The success of IS’s communication strategy could be gauged from the migration of a large number young Muslims from western countries to the areas under its control.  The talk was followed by a questions and answers session. Responding to a question on Paris attacks, Galloway said the attack was meant to send out the message that the IS was capable of attacking its targets in western countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2015.