Read: What ISIS really wants

Soon it was hard to turn on the TV or read a newspaper without coming across some lurid story about the group’s latest depravity, which was also taken as evidence of its prowess. The Western tabloid press was particularly egregious in this regard, liberally disseminating clips from actual ISIS propaganda videos and publishing truly preposterous stories. One fake-news headline in the Daily Mail ran, “ISIS using bombs containing live SCORPIONS in effort to spread panic, in tactic used 2,000 years ago against Romans.”

But it wasn’t just the tabloid press. Serious journalists and commentators were also bewitched by the theater of the Islamic State’s cruelty and deeply impressed by the supposed sophistication of ISIS propaganda videos. In a September 2014 column for The New York Times, the late David Carr wrote, “Anybody who doubts the technical ability of ISIS might want to watch a documentary of Fallujah that includes some remarkable drone camera work.” He added, “While the videos convey barbarism on an elemental level … ISIS clearly has a sophisticated production unit, with good cameras, technically proficient operators and editors who have access to all the best tools.” He was referring to the opening shot of the ultraviolent Clanging of the Swords, Part 4. Countless other journalists praised the Islamic State’s masterly use of social media, pointing out how “slick” and on-point its message was.

These fawning appraisals helped burnish the group’s invincible image and might have spurred ISIS to create yet more videos, ramping up the shock quotient as it went. As the Spanish photographer Ricardo Vilanova, who spent eight months in an ISIS jail, told the BBC, “I think the West is also to blame because we became a loudspeaker for the Islamic State. Every time there was an execution, anything related with the Islamic State would get the front pages. I believed that encouraged them to get crueler and amplify their message.”

I count two problems with the media’s response to ISIS videos: It was ethically dubious to praise what was often straight-up snuff, and the videos were not really all that good. Many were no good at all.

Read: Why ISIS is so good at branding its failures as successes

Take, for example, the Islamic State’s first English-language video, There Is No Life Without Jihad, released on June 19, 2014. The video features a group of young British and Australian men, sitting together with their legs crossed, reading a pre-prepared script. They are trying to explain, in their thick regional accents, why they left their lives in the West for jihad in Syria and Iraq. A man identified as Abu Bara’ al-Hindi says, “Are you willing to sacrifice the fat job you have got, the big car you have got, the family you have? Are you willing to sacrifice this for the sake of Allah?” Abu Bara’ al-Hindi is wearing what appears to be an Emporio Armani T-shirt, which is scarcely a strong look for a jihadist warrior, especially one at war with Western imperialism. The man to his immediate right has a lazy eye under his thick balaclava. And the third man sits silently for long periods of time with his mouth ajar. Needless to say, these were not particularly rousing audio-visual feats.