WRONG!!!

(You didn't take Domestic Sources of U.S. Foreign Policy, did you?)

The CNN Effect

Several prominent scholars have attributed United States policy decisions in the post-Cold War era to the CNN effect. George Kennan, for example, bluntly stated in a New York Times op-ed piece that television news coverage prompted President Bush to deploy United States military forces to Somalia. However, there is little empirical evidence to support a strong CNN effect.

Through content analysis of news stories on Somalia between late 1991 and December 1992, Livingston and Eachus demonstrate that the decision to deploy troops to Somalia did not follow changes in media coverage and content, as predicted by the CNN effect. On the contrary, their study found that consistant media coverage followed the United States decision to intervene. Similarly, a study using polling data by Kull and Ramsey demonstrates that televised images of dead American soldiers did not lead to a majority of the public demanding immediate withdrawl from Somalia (only 41 percent wanted U.S. troops to leave immediately).

In the case of Bosnia, Strobel argues that real-time televison broadcasts did have an effect on the policy process, but it was not the simple relationship predicted by the CNN effect. Strobel explains that news of the Sarajevo market bombing did contribute to a change in policy, but in an indirect fashion. Broadcasts of the bombing galvanized and accelerated the decision-making process, lent support to those who advocated a change in policy, and provided an event which could justify a substantial policy shift. The effects of real-time broadcasts in this case were magnified by the concurrent debate over policy direction within the Clinton Administration. As a result, the CNN effect did not seize control of the policy process but merely provided leverage to one side in the ongoing policy debate.

With compelling evidence against a strong CNN effect in several cases of post-Cold War interventions in which it is most often cited, it is fair to conclude that the CNN effect has been grossly exaggerated. Real-time broadcasting applies pressure on policy-makers to respond to developments quickly, but it does not seize control of the policy process.

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