FBI: Reporters are Prime Targets for ISIS

The FBI has issued a warning to the American media that the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) considers reporters "desirable targets" for attacks as revenge on the United States, Politico reported.

"The FBI assesses, based on open source statements and postings, that [ISIS] members and supporters view members of the U.S. media establishment as legitimate targets for retribution attacks as the U.S.-led air campaign against ISIL in Iraq and Syria continues," an FBI bulletin said.

"Online supporters of ISIL have called — via various social media sites — for retaliation against the United States and U.S. interests abroad, especially since U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq and Syria began."

The agency also said it "recently obtained credible information indicating members of an ISIL-affiliated group are tasked with kidnapping journalists in the region and returning them to Syria. Members of this group might try to mask their affiliation with ISIL to gain access to journalists."

The bulletin also noted a post on the Internet by an ISIS supporter entitled, "A Message to 2.6 Million Muslims in the United States: This is How to Respond to Obama's War on Islam." In it, the author specifically lists a range of media professionals as suitable targets for killings, including anchormen, field reporters, and talk show hosts "proved to be biased," Politico reported.

The FBI said it was issuing the bulletin so that the press could "take appropriate steps to notify their journalists in the field."

USA Today reported that law enforcement and the military received an FBI advisory earlier this month referencing media figures as potential targets but this was the first time that reporters had received a direct warning from the FBI.

"The bottom line with ISIS is that they want to keep stepping up on the stage and they want to keep getting international attention," a former FBI hostage negotiator and profiler told USA Today. "The best way to get international attention from the media is to do something concerning the media."

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