FBI announces American media in US and abroad now targeted by terrorists

Logo of the Society of Professional Journalists

The FBI has announced that Muslim-led terrorist groups have singled out journalists as special targets no matter where they live in the world, not just those who cover the news directly on the ground in the Middle East. As terrorism grows, the radical groups recognize that the media is the first line of communication and defense against misinformation.  But in targeting journalists, what individuals or groups are included in the extremist manifesto?

The Society of Professional Journalists sent information that was disseminated to media organization in the United States that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members and supporters have called for retaliation against US interests abroad, and to those conveying information regarding those interests by way of media accounts,

The extremist groups are using social media sites as the mechanism for communicating with their members throughout the world, asking those members to join in actions of retaliation against the United States and its interests abroad.

According to the FBI, a posting on an ISIL-dominated forum is entitled "A Message to 2.6 million Muslims in the United States: This is How to Respond to Obama's War on Islam."  It goes on to suggest that media personnel, that include anchors at various radio and television stations, field reporters, and talk show hosts to be the priority targets for execution, in response to the US-led airstrikes on Syria and Iraq.  This post, along with a video of the execution of an American journalist, are the tools used to announce that members of the media are to be hunted down and killed.  The FBI has detailed the information that the ISIL-affiliated group is the one charged with kidnapping journalists and is considered a threat, to the extent that American journalists are being notified of it.

The Society of Professional Journalists is a principal journalist organization, with extensive contact information that serves as a major mouthpiece for interaction with journalists across the United States.  It provides information on resources, meetings, forums, education and other topics.  In some cases, warnings like those regarding terrorist threats specifically regarding journalists are sent through email contacts.

This follows a significant uptick in the killing and brutalization of journalists everywhere.  In Nigeria journalists are caught in the middle of the two sides struggling for power in the West African country.  Boko Haram has particularly cited the need to kill journalists unfavorable to their cause.  Members of the government forces have also threatened, harrassed and detained journalists.

In Afghanistan the press is again the target of terrorism, as it has been reported there that 2014 has been the bloodiest year for journalists. Some of the top journalists who have been covering the news in Afghanistan have been killed.  One of them was Sardar Ahmad, a journalist who had been working with the French news agency at the time he was killed in March 2014.  But it is not just the reporter or media representative included in the terrorist threat.  Members of their families have also suffered at the hands of extremists.

Now, however, as ISIS and other groups sympathetic to their cause of deliberate and graphic torture and killings of random citizens, or media representatives, have indicated they will take their operations to American soil, or areas of known American interests, the threat to the media has widened,   This offers a new dimension of fear to journalists who seek to bring education and information to the public that might save lives.