Audience Resilience Strategies of Proto-State Media Systems

Chapter 6 explores the symbolic factors that al-Qaeda and ISIS use to sustain the attention of their followers. It begins by analyzing the strategies that proto-states rely on to build their credibility, particularly in relation to their militant efforts, their media operations, and their community-building activities. It then examines the groups’ patterned approaches for enhancing audience involvement in their various multimodal media products. Finally, it reveals how the proto-states adapt their media products in response to on-the-ground actions, both of their own and their enemies’ making. The chapter concludes with the observation that despite the identified patterns of building credibility, audience involvement, and adaptability, the proto-states’ choices vary based on the identity of the proto-state group, the media product type, the subject matter of the content, the presentational form of that content, the target audience, the media channels, and the situational context.