We hear a lot about Islamic State's use of social media. What we don't hear so much about is how the reach of those messages and videos is amplified by Western media, who often use material made by the sophisticated IS propaganda machine.
Today the Lowy Institute has launched a new research analysis 'Islamic State Propaganda and the Mainstream Media'. The author is journalist Lauren Williams.
In this short podcast, I ask Lauren about the research, her own reporting experiences, and how media covering the IS story at times struggle to apply the checks and balances that professional journalists pride themselves on.