Al Qaida’s modern media empire
Al Qaida is as media savy as ever.
Al-Qaida video messages of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri can now be downloaded to cell phones, the terror network announced as part of its attempts to extend its influence.
Of course, part of the reason may be decreasing sympathetic coverage elsewhere. Al Jazeera has been partially muzzled by a deal between the Qatar and the Saudis.
The new policy is the latest chapter in a gradual domestication of Al Jazeera, once reviled by American officials as little more than a terrorist propaganda outlet. Al Jazeera’s broadcasts no longer routinely refer to Iraqi insurgents as the “resistance,” or victims of American firepower as “martyrs.”