ISIS beheads American citizen Peter Kassig

David Greene, the host of NPR’S story on Peter Kassig. President Obama has confirmed that a video released by the Islamic State on Sunday shows the beheading of hostage Kassig, an American aid worker in Syria who was kidnapped in 2013, is authentic.

Peter Kassig

Kassig was an aid worker, and an ex-army Ranger who was then captured by ISIS delivering medical supplies in Syria. Kassig is lately known as Abdul Rahman after he converted to Islam while in captivity.

The key feature of this article is the layout. Greene has an interview with NPR’S Alice Fordham, who has been following the news from Baghdad.

At first, Greene asked specific questions about Kassig, leaning to background information about him. Fordham gave specific answers that were very straightforward and went right to it. It wasn’t conversational because Greene asked questions and Fordham simply answered back with facts.

•  The story follows a blocked structure, a Q and A.
• The article was very informational.
• It wasn’t conversational 
• Concise, clear and organized

It allowed me to easily understand them and follow along.  But, I felt as though they were both leaning in to giving more facts, it was much informational rather than being conversational.

What America could learn from fighting ISIS

In NY Times this article, Nick Kristof talks about how President Obama’s campaign in Iraq against the terrorist group ISIS is more focused on military funding than education. He believes that ISIS has grown to be stronger due to their extremist ways and oppression of women. He also believes that the US can use the opposite to their advantage: women’s rights and education.

The article is an opinion piece which differs from a straight news story. Instead of a lede, the introduction is used to set the scene for the rest of the piece. He doesn’t make his full point until around the third to last graph. Unlike a straight news story, the article is biased and opinionated. Kristof expresses his opinion using words such as “naive” and “unfortunately” to describe his opposition to Obama’s plan for ISIS. Kristof also uses many sources within the article so readers can understand what he is talking about. He uses these sources when he is talking about facts. When he discusses his opinion, there are little sources. Kristof uses questions to introduce his main argument in the middle of the article. This method is helpful posing a question causes the reader to fill in his or her own answers.

From D.C. to Syria, a Mess

Nicholas Kristof published this article in New York Times on Sept, 17. The article deals with President Obama’s military campaign in Syria against the Islamic State. Specifically, how things are going wrong with Obama’s strategies towards ISIS.

Kristof begins with clarification and adding a little bit of humor. He starts off with “A senior administration official, explained why Saudi Arabia would be a good partner in battling ISIS “Saudi Arabia has an extensive border with Syria. Oh? Actually, Saudi Arabia and Syria have no border at all. Always be skeptical when the White House goes to war with a country that it misplaces on a map.” Here, he has his readers hooked. His column was  opinionated on what he really thinks about this issue. Kristof  made it very clear that he disagrees with it all. What really interested me was how Kristof wrote his column – he did not go over what ISIS is, since everyone around the globe knows what ISIS is, and what ISIS is all about. Kristof was very straightforward addressing his concerns. Kristof wrote a column that could grab a reader’s attention by only using his opinion and no use of facts. But, towards the end of his article it almost seemed like Kristof was trying to get his readers to agree with him by saying “But I’d be more reassured if the White House could at least locate its enemy on the map.’’ And when he uses “For now, we seem to be setting out on an uncertain mission.”

ISIS releases disturbing threat to U.S.

In this article from USA Today, published on Monday, Sept. 22 at 11:02 am. A spokesman Abu Muhammad Al Adnani, for the Islamic State has released a disturbing message threatening the U.S. Adnani urges members of the Muslim community to take violent actions against disbelievers.

This title of the article grabs the reader’s attention very quickly. The article does a great job in direct quotation on Abu Muhammed Al Adnani’s speech. For example: “O America, O allies of America, and O crusaders, know that the matter is more dangerous than you have imagined and greater than you have envisioned. We have warned you that today we are in a new era,” Adnani said. “If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” Adnani said.

The article adds exact word for word on the speech by Adnani. It gives the same message, “Rig the roads with explosives, attack their bases, raid their homes, cut off their heads and do not let them feel secure.” There’s one specific purpose for ISIS, and this news story does a great job in showing exactly  the main purpose of Adnani’s speech, and his aim towards the U.S. So the news story did a great job interpreting direct quotations. Meanwhile, another person was shown in this article – former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Again adding direct quotation about what he thinks about ISIS. “The west needs to be ready to commit ground forces to deal with ISIS and here is real evidence that now countries in the Middle East are prepared to shoulder responsibility and I accept fully there is no appetite for ground engagement in the West.” The news story shows direct evidence within the quotations based upon Adnani’s speech.

From Glasgow girl to ISIS bride in Syria

November of last year, Aqsa Mahmood a 19-year-old girl who loved listening to Coldplay and reading “Harry Potter” books suddenly left everything behind in Glasgow, including her family to join ISIS in Syria. In February a year after her disappearance, she called her parents saying that she is now married to an ISIS fighter in Syria, whilst crossing into the border from Turkey. Atika Shubert and Bharati Naik from CNN published this news story on Friday, Sep. 5.

She has her own twitter account under the name “UmmLayth” advocating ISIS Islamic caliphate beliefs, and calling for attacks to be carried out in other countries particularly Western countries. She posts photos on her twitter account of AK-47s with the Qur’an. Her recent posting online was to follow the examples of her “brothers from Woolich, Texas, and Boston as Allah is their believer.” Aqsa Mahmood is said to be influenced by the Internet and coming in contact with ISIS people that helped her move from Glasgow to Syria. What news value does this news story have? Novelty: It somewhat seems unexpected for a normal teenage girl living in Glasgow to suddenly join ISIS, and marry an ISIS fighter. Impact: ISIS has been the top news story around the world, and effecting millions of people. It also shows that Aqsa Mahmood is said to be influenced by the Internet – It is a very powerful tool because that’s what influenced her in the first place and this can happen to anyone, anywhere. Human Interest: Heart-wrenching story for a young girl who has been brainwashed by the Internet, who resorts to joining ISIS and marrying an ISIS fighter. Timeliness: The news story carried out the news as soon as it happened over the weekend on Friday.

Analysis:  The title in this news story is straight forward and gets right to the point. The title itself catches the readers eye’s and it is very interesting as it is something very unusual. The first paragraph does not go straight to the point, but leaves the readers wanting to know more of the story. The last few words of the first paragraph is “there was something different about his daughter.” This gives the readers a sense of emotion and confusion of what is yet to come. The second, third and fourth paragraphs just gave background information as how it all started with Aqsa Mahmood leaving her family. But after those paragraphs it went right to the point of who-what-when-where-why-how. The news story had an easy and understanding flow to it. The article was very long, somewhat informative but very descriptive at the same time. I chose this specific article just because it is very unusual for a 19-year-old young girl to join ISIS and become an ISIS bride. The title quickly grabbed my attention. Overall the article is an interesting read as well as very emotional.

UK takes anti-terrorism initiative: with rights to obtain citizen-issued passports

CNN World News published an article surrounding the UK’s recent initiative to limit terrorism on Monday. CNN is a high-ranking news site that delivers breaking news stories catered towards United States citizens.

In efforts to keep ISIS supporters out of the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron now grants law enforcement officials the ability to obtain passports from any suspecting individual who may attempt entry or re-entry into the country. This impactful initiative concerns UK citizens who may have travelled outside of the country, and return to discover they are not allowed back in. What will innocent individuals do if they happen to be deemed as a threat to their home country? How far will this temporary initiative go in terms of excluding and tagging potential terrorists? One may believe that suspects are sought out mainly by their appearance. Following the events in Syria and Iraq involving the late American journalist James Foley, countries like Great Britain are beginning to face these extremely controversial decisions. And now that the UK has begun this act, it is inevitable for other places around the world to follow suit.