The Islamic State was back in the news on Tuesday with an act of barbarism that seemed designed, with ghoulish cynicism, to further raise the media stakes.
The militant group released a video that showed the killing of 26-year-old Muath al-Kaseasbeh, a Jordanian pilot, who was burned alive in a cage.
The imagery was stark, the video slickly produced: Faceless fighters. A prisoner in Guantanamo orange. Digitally-enhanced flames. A scorched earth. An unimaginable death.
The video made headlines around the world -- including at Mashable -- leading the news cycle for most of the day.
This is terrorism in the social media age: The horror is sped up, the images more barbaric as the militants try to capture the world's ever fleeting attention.
For hours during the day, the words 'Burned Alive' were a fixture of the cable news coverage. The gruesome theatrics seemed calculated to shock the world and gain airtime in a way that the video of the beheading of James Foley five months ago originally did.
In recent months, ISIS has promoted imagery showing its members crucifying victims, placing heads on spikes, and pushing people off rooftops. They have also released a video in which a young child seems to shoot two men who the group accused of being spies.
But nothing has gained them the attention that the burning death of al-Kaseasbeh did on Tuesday.
For those covering the story, it created a quandary: how to cover the killing without furthering the militants' aims?
On Twitter, there were repeated calls not to share the most disturbing images. And many media organizations -- including em>Mashable -- chose not to display graphic stills from the video.
Doubt how horrible #ISIS is? Now you know. Respect to media outlets not showing images. #Jordan #MuathalKaseasbeh #JO pic.twitter.com/EtR7NafIEr— Rana Sweis (@ranasweis) February 3, 2015
the media has to stop putting up #ISIS propaganda images and video clips. there's no need to give them the kind of publicity they seek.— Sama Faruqi (@safar897) February 3, 2015
Please don’t share the images of Jordanian pilot being burned alive by ISIS. It’s no less horrific than images of beheadings.— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) February 3, 2015
At Fox News, Shepard Smith described the video to viewers via six pages of notes he took.
“We’re not going to show you the video,” he said. “I’m going to tell you about it, all of it, every bit of it. I watched it over the last hour, not because I wanted to -- I absolutely did not. I watched it because I felt like those of you would want to know what’s on it but don’t want to watch it or be subjected to some sort of gruesome descriptive adjectives can get the information.”
CNN said it would not air the video due to its graphic nature and the propaganda value to ISIS.
Instead, many media outlets choose to show pictures of the deceased from an earlier, happier time to underscore who the person was and not to perpetuate the ISIS imagery of a victim in an orange jumpsuit.
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Jordan-Pilot.jpg" caption="A Jordanian child holds a poster with a picture of Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who is held by the Islamic State group militants, with Arabic that reads, "we are all Muath," during a candle vigil in support of Japan, in front of the Japanese embassy, in Amman, Jordan, Monday, Feb. 2, 2015. " credit="Nasser Nasser" alt="Jordan Pilot"]
There was backlash, too, with some on Twitter threatening to unfollow media outlets that had shared images of the man's death. A hashtag was born -- #ISISMediaBlackout -- where users encouraged others to cease from sharing the images.
You don't have to use the hashtag, but remember the ethic in your social media coverage of this latest horrific murder. #ISISMediaBlackout— Hend (@LibyaLiberty) February 3, 2015
Please stop spreading the disgusting IS(IS) videos, once and for all. It helps no one but the extremists #ISISMediaBlackout #Kasasbeh— Daniel Steinvorth (@dsteinvorth) February 3, 2015
If u r not careful w/ spreading #MuathalKaseasbeh's pic, u'd end up doing a big fav 2 IS's propaganda machine. #ISISMediaBlackout— Afrah Nasser (@Afrahnasser) February 3, 2015
Even without the video being shown, however, ISIS clearly succeeded in capturing the news cycle.
Nobody needs to see the video of a man being set on fire to feel gripped by the horror of it.