Readers of the New York Post have slammed today’s graphic front cover image of American journalist James Foley as “shameful” and “horrendous”.

The front page of the newspaper shows Foley handcuffed with a knife held against his throat by an Islamic State militant.

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Yahoo’s digital editor, Dylan Stableford, described the cover as “graphic and despicable”.

The “SAVAGES” headline has also been used by upset readers to describe the publication itself.

The New Daily has chosen not to republish the image.

Foley was working as a journalist in Syria when he went missing two years ago.

The New York Post cover of James Foley is as graphic and despicable as we’ve come to expect.

— Dylan Stableford (@stableford) August 20, 2014

‘Savages’ says @nypost headline today. Also very apt way to describe the paper itself. — Mikko Takkunen (@photojournalism) August 20, 2014

Who’s the savage now @nypost? — amanda meade (@meadea) August 20, 2014

Some have defended the New York Post, which is edited by Australian journalist Col Allan, saying it is the job of the media to report on ISIS.

.@nypost made the right call on today’s cover. The job of the media is to *report* the savagery of ISIS, not shield us from it. — Jason Mattera (@JasonMattera) August 20, 2014

A campaign has also been launched on Twitter urging people not to share the video purporting to show Foley’s murder.

Thousands of ordinary users from around the world have also backed the plan to deny ISIL publicity in horror at what they have done, using the hashtag #ISISmediablackout.

Twitter’s chief executive, Dick Costolo, said the firm was taking action against accounts which spread the video.

He wrote: “We have been and are actively suspending accounts as we discover them related to this graphic imagery. Thank you.”

Instead of the graphic video, large numbers of people were sharing pictures of Foley smiling at work, encouraging people to disseminate them in his memory instead.

– with AAP