The Obama administration is asking the media to stop using old footage from the Islamic State that it says gives a false impression of the terror network's strength.
Top State Department officials have begun contacting television news networks to request the change,
Politico reports.
"We are urging broadcasters to avoid using the familiar B-roll that we've all seen before, file footage of ISIL convoys operating in broad daylight, moving in large formations with guns out, looking to wreak havoc," Emily Horne, spokeswoman for retired Gen. John Allen, told Politico.
Allen is the State Department's special envoy heading the coalition fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
"B-roll" is the footage played during news broadcasts while a particular subject is being discussed, and the State Department has two problems with the images being show when ISIS is discussed: it is outdated, showing ISIS stronger than it is; and it is ISIS propaganda that could be used as a recruitment tool.
"It's inaccurate — that's no longer how ISIL moves," Horne told Politico. "A lot of that footage is from last summer, before we began tactical strikes."
That footage shows large convoys traveling by daylight.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steven Warren suggested that a more accurate image now would be "one Toyota speeding down the road by itself at night with its headlights off."
Warren acknowledged that the danger to news crews in Iraq makes it hard for them to obtain new footage. Horne said news programs could use video of U.S. troops training Iraqi forces to battle ISIS.
That suggestion, too, comes with problems for news outlets, as it could appear to be propaganda from the U.S. government.
"The best way to look at that request is the Obama administration just wants the American public to be articulately informed about [ISIS]. The worst possible scenario is the Obama administration wants to manipulate the information the American public receives about [ISIS]," said Kelly McBride, ethicist for the Poynter Institute. "I don't know how you know the answer to the question."
Officials have been contacting news correspondents in informal settings to make the request, Politico reported. CNN, NBC, Fox News and ABC did not respond to requests for comment, the website reported. A CBS source said the network had not been contacted by the White House about the subject.
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