Ed Morrissey:
A new video has emerged on at least one Islamist extremist site purporting to show the murder by beheading of a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff.
BREAKING: New video appears to show execution of Steven Sotloff, the 2nd American killed by a self-professed member of ISIS – @leeferran
— ABC News (@ABC) September 2, 2014
Islamic State video purports to show beheading of US hostage Steven Sotloff http://t.co/vzRQAulLxH
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) September 2, 2014
BREAKING: ISIS on Tuesday released a video that appears to show the beheading of American journalist Steven Joel Sotloff.
— The Hill (@thehill) September 2, 2014
The reports are emerging so quickly that Josh Earnest could not provide any answers at the White House press briefing this morning:
White House says cannot confirm authenticity of video purported to show beheading of U.S. hostage Sotloff by Islamic State
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 2, 2014
In the video, ISIS names its next victim — a British hostage:
Islamic State video issues threat against British hostage it names as David Haines: SITE
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 2, 2014
That apparently is an attempt to warn the UK from allying with the US:
Video warns governments to back off "this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State": SITE
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 2, 2014
The New York Times ran a profile of Sotloff when the video of James Foley’s murder emerged:
Steven J. Sotloff, a 31-year-old freelance journalist, self-described “stand-up philosopher from Miami,” immersed himself in the tumult of the Middle East for years, repeatedly venturing into some of the most hazardous conflict zones. He reassured friends that he knew the risks as he wrote for publications that included Time magazine, The Christian Science Monitor and World Affairs Journal. …
Described by friends as selfless, Mr. Sotloff spent most of his life in Florida except when he attended a boarding high school, Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H., where he apparently developed a penchant for reporting and writing. He coedited the student newspaper, The Kimball Union, graduated in 2002 and attended the University of Central Florida, where he played rugby, worked for the independent student newspaper, Central Florida Future, and expressed deep interest in travel to the Middle East.
He left after three years and, soon after, began to pursue journalism full-time.
“The guy lit up a room. He was always such a loyal, caring and good friend to us,” Josh Polsky, who shared a dormitory suite with Mr. Sotloff, said in a telephone interview. “If you needed to rely on anybody for anything he would drop everything on a dime for you or for anyone else.”
The video and its images will likely flood the Internet over the next few hours, pushed by ISIS’ social-media fronts and others. I won’t post those, although some of the news articles linked may have some contained within them.
Update: NBC has more on the sourcing: