Proto-State Media Systems

Abstract

Chapter 2 begins by tracing the structural evolution of al-Qaeda and ISIS media. It explains how, early on, the two groups relied upon individual media sectors or media channels to convey their messaging to followers. Moving forward, it explains how each has its own mature media system, complete with complex, operational structures and substantial audience reach. It then analyzes the two groups’ media systems through the lens of Hallin and Mancini’s four standard rubrics for evaluating state-based, media systems: structure of the media market, political parallelism, journalistic roles, and role of the state. While acknowledging the ongoing relevance of certain subcomponents of this conventional framework in the proto-state context, the chapter concludes by showing how an exclusive reliance on such state-based approaches would fail to account fully for key variables operating in militant, proto-state media systems.