The Associated Press probably didn’t mean this as an insult, but it suggested last week that a new Western-style radio channel from ISIS sounds like...NPR.
The newscast's tone sounds much like National Public Radio in the United States. But this is Al-Bayan, the Islamic State radio targeting European recruits — touting recent triumphs in the campaign to carve out a Caliphate.
All news is good news for Al-Bayan's "soldiers of the Caliphate." In this narrative, the enemy always flees in disgrace or is killed. The broadcasts end with a swell of music and a gentle English message: "We thank our listeners for tuning in."
The tension between the smooth, Western-style production and the extremist content shows how far the hardcore Islamic propaganda machine has come since 2012...
If you missed that story, the people at NPR didn’t. On Saturday, the game show Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me! made prolonged fun out of the “evil organization” comparison:
PETER SAGAL, host: Panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Tom, according to the AP this week, in order to recruit more jihadis, ISIS has adopted the tactics of what other well-known evil organization?
TOM BODETT: That would be - it's not like the public radio fund drive thing?
SAGAL: You're so close, yes. I'm going to give it to you on the base of the guess. It's NPR.
BODETT: No way.
SAGAL: Thank you, ISIS. Yes, we're very flattered. This comes as no surprise to you NPR listeners, who, a couple of times a year, get pledge-boarded by your local station.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Al Bayan is an Islamic State radio network, and according to AP, they imitate the smooth, calm style of NPR as they try to recruit people to their cause. So it's like, so that's another victory for the Caliphate against the unbeliever. Death to America. And now it's time for Jazz Jihad Cafe.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Flattering. The amazing thing is that they were able to match NPR's style so perfectly, despite having a staff with 9,000 percent fewer Jews.
(LAUGHTER)
PETER SAGAL: And they've even got - they've even got on the weekend, just like NPR, they have a new schedule. They go over to all evil shows like This Anti-American Life...
(LAUGHTER)
PETER SAGAL: And Car Bomb Talk, and Prairie Home Companion.
(LAUGHTER)
ROXANNE ROBERTS: And Wait Wait ...Don't Kill Me!
PS: The BBC described broadcasts as an "unexciting mix of religious chanting and news headlines." Experts suggest Islamic State has created radio broadcasts to create a “veneer of officialdom” and the sense of a “fully functional state.” It’s unfortunate that America’s “functionality” would be defined by anyone as a propaganda network like NPR.
