Frame your friends close and your enemies closer: how al-Masra newspaper imagines individuals

Abstract

ABSTRACT Armed groups are well-known for discussing their allies and adversaries in unitary actor terms. However, individuals also play an important part in the discourse of armed groups. Focusing on jihadist propaganda, we adopt a multi-method approach to examine the influence of individuals on militants’ diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing. We do so by analyzing original data collected from 1250 articles in al-Masra, an Arabic language newspaper linked to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Quantitatively, we record the number of articles in which numerous jihadist figures and leaders from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and the United States were mentioned to measure their significance in al-Masra’s contents. Qualitatively, we explore al-Masra’s discourse surrounding these different individuals. Rather than only framing friends and foes in unitary actor terms, we find that individuals played a central role in al-Masra’s framing efforts. Yet, the extent to which al-Masra discussed different personalities varied across organizations as well as countries. These findings contribute to scholarship on individuals in conflict processes, armed group framing strategies, and jihadist propaganda.