Beheading videos are a propaganda format built around hostages killed on camera, most notoriously used by Islamist militant groups during the War on Terror era. The 2010 opening explained the format was "popularized during the War on Terror for videos released by Islamist militant groups depicting interviews by hostages taken by said groups." Today's opening drops both phrases, describing the practice only as employed by groups "seeking to instill shock or terror," though the word hostage survives 18 times elsewhere in the article. A reader today does not learn that this format was popularized specifically by Islamist militant groups fighting the War on Terror.
Read line by line and written up by hand.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “hostage” appeared 2 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 18.
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The opening as it read in 2010
Beheading video is a colloquial term in the U.S. popularized during the " War on Terror " for videos released by Islamist militant groups depicting interviews by hostages taken by said groups. The prelude to these videos usually show the subject alive and pleading for their lives sometimes accompanied by their captors, sometimes not. The demands made are usually broad and general, such as total withdrawal of the hostage's nation's military forces from a particular Middle Eastern country, usually Iraq . Invariably a video depicting the actual beheading is released a few days later.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 354078422.
The opening as it stood in 2015 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
A beheading video is a type of propaganda video in which hostages are graphically decapitated .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667003325.
The opening as it stood in 2020
A beheading video is a form of propaganda or snuff video in which hostages are graphically decapitated .It is often employed by groups seeking to instill shock or terror into a population, whilst beheading has been a widely employed public execution method since the ancient Greeks and Romans , videos of this type only began to arise in 2002 with the beheading of Daniel Pearl and the growth of the Internet in the Information Age which allowed groups to anonymously publish these videos for public consumption.The beheadings shown in these videos are usually not performed in a "classical" method – decapitating a victim quickly with a blow from a sword or axe – but by the relatively slow and tortuous process of slicing and sawing the victim's neck, while still alive, with a knife .Despite the number of groups and ideologies that employ this form of propaganda, the process is overwhelmingly associated with Islamic extremists ."Beheading video seen as war tactic / Experts say terrorists employing grisly form of propaganda" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963242042.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Form of propaganda or snuff video A beheading video is a type of snuff video depicting a live murder in which a hostage or victim is shown to be graphically decapitated .Such videos are typically distributed mostly through the Internet, and are often employed by groups seeking to instill shock or terror into a population. Although beheading has been a widely employed public execution method since the ancient Greeks and Romans , videos of this type only began to arise in 2002 with the beheading of Daniel Pearl and the growth of the Internet in the Information Age , which allowed groups to anonymously publish these videos for public consumption. The beheadings shown in these videos are usually not performed in a "classical" method – decapitating a victim quickly with a blow from a sword or axe – but by the relatively slow and torturous process of slicing and sawing the victim's neck, while still alive, with a knife . Despite the number of groups and ideologies that employ this form of propaganda, the process is overwhelmingly associated with Islamist extremists . "Beheading video seen as war tactic / Experts say terrorists employing grisly form of propaganda" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178255839.
The opening as it stood in 2025 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Form of propaganda depicting a live murder A beheading video is a video which depicts a live murder by beheading or the aftermath (e.g., display of the severed head). Such videos are typically distributed mostly through the Internet, and are often employed by groups seeking to instill shock or terror into a population. Although beheading has been a widely employed public execution method since the ancient Greeks and Romans , videos of this type only began to arise in 2002 with the beheading of Daniel Pearl and the growth of the Internet in the Information Age , which allowed groups to anonymously publish these videos for public consumption. The beheadings shown in these videos are usually not performed in a "classical" method — decapitating a victim quickly with a blow from a sword or axe — but by the relatively slow and torturous process of slicing and sawing the victim's neck, while still alive, with a knife . "Beheading video seen as war tactic / Experts say terrorists employing grisly form of propaganda" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294097314. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
“hostage” appeared 2 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 18. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
hostage
2
1
1
1
0
terror
2
0
2
2
2
militant
1
0
0
0
0
islamist
1
0
0
1
0
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2010 and 2025.
Then
colloquial term in the u
Now
video which depicts a live murder by beheading or the aftermath
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
