One Jerusalem has posted the video for a lecture that media expert Daniel Kimmage just finished up. Kimmage is one of the world's foremost experts on the structure and scope of jihadist media. This lecture seems to be a summary of recent work by him and Kathleen Ridolfo, funded by Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. There's definitely some cause for military hope:

The problem is that current US diplomacy is driven by this delusional State Department belief in marketing ourselves to the Muslim world - as if the problem is that they misunderstand us. Never considered: the Muslim world understands us only too well, and they just don't like what we are. Because if that was ever considered, then we'd have to start confronting the possibility that this war is going to last a long time, and it's going to involve more than diplomatic niceties. Problem: the Muslim world understands us only too well, and they just don't like what we are:

It turns out that jihadists are really good at media manipulation. They seem to be especially sophisticated when it comes to manipulation of new media - and ever more so when they're quoting statements by our politicians about how we're losing the war in Iraq. So if you're keeping a list of today's shockers: Democratic claims about how jihadists don't pay attention to our domestic political situation really are as stupid as they sound. This is the full 30 minute lecture - necessary listening if you want to have any hope of speaking knowledgeably about the media aspect of the Global War on Terror:

In fairness to the West, we're at a massive disadvantage here. We can use our own outlets and sometimes be reasonably persuasive. But we have almost no penetration in Arab media markets - not least of which because we've made the reasonable choice not to speak the Arab and Muslim lingua franca of Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism. So naturally that makes us much less persuasive. Again, it's not packaging. Without that pathological content, we just don't seem credible.

The jihadists, on the other hand, get to use both their own media outlets and the editorial pages of bastions of sophistication like the Washington Post. To say nothing of their access to the news pages of Reuters and AP, thanks to the charming not-entirely-anti-jihadist stringers employed by the news wires. So yeah, they do have a bit of an advantage don't they?

PS - "It is important to look at the rhetorical details". Yes, yes it is.

References:
* Radical Islam's Exploitation Of The Internet [One Jerusalem]
* Iraq: RFE/RL Report Reveals Weaknesses In Sunni-Insurgent Media War [REF / RL]
* US Public Diplomacy TV News Chief Quits Over Al-Hurra's Striking Resemblance To Al-Jazeera [MR]
* Uhh... When Did the Washington Post Start Letting Terrorists Publish Propaganda? [MR]

Previously:
* US Public Diplomacy, Tact Don't Extend To Israel
* Public Diplomacy Means Always Having to Say You're Sorry
* This Is Why Public Diplomacy Will Fail - Islamists Take It Over And Use It For Propaganda

Cross-posted to:
* The Astute Bloggers