DOCSLIB.ORG

PROOF Contents

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
PROOF Contents PROOF Contents List of Figures and Tables ix Acknowledgments x Introduction 1 1 Media Power: A Radical View 5 1 Media effects 10 2 Media power 16 3 For a new analytical framework 20 4 The sources of power: the image and the arena 25 5 A four-dimensional definition 31 6 Two case studies 33 7 Looking for media effects 38 2 Power over the Agenda 47 1 ‘Agending’ Kosovo 53 1.1 The beginning: Kosovo in 1992 58 1.2 The creation of a visual link with Bosnia: Kosovo in 1993 61 1.3 Climbing the agenda: Kosovo between 1997 and 1998 63 2 ‘Agending’ Afghanistan 65 2.1 Building salience 66 2.2 Building narratives 71 3 Comparison and conclusions 76 3 Power over the Process 80 1 Real-time Kosovo 82 2 Real-time Afghanistan 92 3 Comparison and conclusions 96 4 Power over the Channel 99 1 Media Diplomacy in Kosovo 101 1.1 The level of the actor 102 1.2 The level of the interaction 107 vii PROOF viii Contents 2 Media Diplomacy in Afghanistan 113 2.1 The level of the actor 114 2.2 The level of the interaction 118 3 Comparison and conclusions 123 5 Power over the Instruments 126 1 Kosovo’s Semiotic War 128 1.1 The air strikes 132 2 Afghanistan’s Semiotic War 146 2.1 Operation Enduring Freedom 149 3 Comparison and conclusions 160 6 Conclusions 163 1 Media power clarified 165 1.1 The medium and the system 167 1.2 Narratives, framing, and the image 169 1.3 Release of sensitive information 173 1.4 The arena 175 2 Implications for warfare 176 2.1 Mediated perceptions, analogies, and practices 178 2.2 Mediated interaction 181 3 What’s next 182 Notes 185 Bibliography 188 Index 216 PROOF 1 Media Power: A Radical View Even though they are recognized as being among the most impor- tant agents of contemporary societies (see Debord, 1967; Baudrillard, 1981; Harvey, 1990), the media have rarely been investigated as an agent contributing to the transformation of war.∗ That a transforma- tion has occurred seems to be confirmed by the constellation of labels that have been used to define contemporary conflict: it has been called a war that is ‘of the third kind’ (Holsti, 1996), ‘postmodern’ (Gray, 1997), ‘without identity’ (Laïdi, 1998), ‘new’ (Kaldor, 1999; Shaw, 2005), ‘virtual’ (Ignatieff, 2001), ‘virtuous’ (Der Derian, 2001), ‘humane’ (Coker, 2001), and even a form of ‘spectator-sport’ (McInnes, 2002). Besides the nuances differentiating each scholar’s view, contemporary conflict and warfare have been invariably connected to several recur- rent elements: globalization; the decline of the state; the emergence of transnational relations, both cultural and economic; late capitalism; post-industrialism; the end of ideologies and metaphysics; post-heroism; and the rise of the ‘society of spectacle’ and the information age.1 Only Der Derian and Shaw recognize an active role of the media in defining the new nature of the Western way of war. Der Derian’s ‘virtuous war’ is the result of a new alliance of the military–industrial– media–entertainment network. Moreover, it is characterized by the production of a new configuration of power in which ‘made-for-TV wars and Hollywood war movies blur, military war games and com- puter video games blend, mock disasters and real accidents collide’ (Der Derian, 2001, p. xi). At the heart of a ‘virtuous war’ is the technical capability and ethical imperative to threaten and, if necessary, actualize violence from a distance, with no or minimal casualties. Shaw (2000, 2005) argues that Western warfare changed after the Vietnam War when it became clear that it is necessary to legitimize a military intervention 5 PROOF 6 Media Power and the Transformation of War in the eyes of the public in order to win it. War, he explains, is nowa- days fought in a context of global surveillance, where ‘national publics take notice of what allied governments and public think, as well as of a broader international official and public opinion’ (Shaw, 2005, p. 75). As a consequence, war ‘must be strictly time-limited’ (ibid., p. 76); ‘must, above all, minimize casualties to Western troops’ (ibid., p. 79); ‘should rely heavily on airpower and look to others – as far as possible – to take risks on the ground’ (ibid., p. 81); must kill the enemy ‘efficiently, quickly, and discreetly’ (ibid., p. 82); must minimize civilian casualties (ibid., p. 84); must ‘rely on “precision” weaponry’ (ibid., p. 87); must hide suffering and death (ibid., p. 88); and must have media manage- ment at its core because ‘it maintains the narratives that explain the images of war’ (ibid., p. 92). Holsti, Kaldor, and Laïdi, on the other hand, do not turn to the media at all to better understand the new wars. In the case of Gray, Coker, McInnes, and Ignatieff, the media are treated as channels of communi- cation or spaces of war representation rather than as agents or factors shaping contemporary conflict. According to Gray, two of the aspects of contemporary war are related to the media: (1) the increase in human communication which, in turn, increases international networking and changes the nature of local conflicts as well as potentialities for peace; and (2) the centrality of machines, TV satellites included, in war fight- ing and information control. Ignatieff (2001) claims that the virtual war, which takes place on television screens and at a distance, emerged because it promises to restore war to its place as the continuation of pol- itics by other means. The reality of war is, in fact, blurred by the lexicon of ‘humanitarian action’ and ‘coercive diplomacy’, as well as by the use of precision weaponry for destruction. McInnes (2002) focuses instead on the nature of the enemy which has changed in contemporary con- flicts. Indeed, he claims that wars are no longer fought against another state but rather against the regime or government of a state. The result is that we observe war from a distance, as if it is a show, and we experience it as if we are sport spectators. By combining the ideas developed by Coker and Laïdi, Hammond (2007) explains the specific role of the media in postmodern conflict as a reaction to the ‘crisis of meaning’ that Western societies have been experiencing since the end of the Cold War and which coincides with a search for meaning that is ultimately destined to failure. As a result, humanitarian interventions as well as the ‘War on Terror’ and culture wars are used to produce meaning in order to set the political agenda. This in turn has led to a heightened emphasis on images, spectacle, PROOF Media Power: A Radical View 7 and media representation (Hammond, 2007, p. 11); has favored the media’s narrative in many contemporary conflicts, for example, in the Balkans; and has exacerbated a preoccupation with images and the representation of war in all recent military interventions. With a very similar argument, Michalski and Gow (2007) underline how war narratives are constructed and shaped through the charac- ter of ‘moving-image media’. They argue that the image itself and its consumption are salient in shaping and defining the interpretation and understanding of a conflict with respect to its legitimization. The possi- ble meaning of war is limited by the discursive possibility of the moving image, which, at the same time, becomes a potential source of sense and a weapon. ‘The image is a “blunt” instrument’, they argue (Michalski & Gow, 2007, p. 222), and its impact is difficult to control, even when it is part of a propagandistic design. War legitimacy, indeed, is affected not only by intentional attempts to control information and shape public opinion, but also by unintentional effects due to the simple diffusion of images, no matter if they are managed or not. Thus, the media, which are structured by their dependence on the image, can challenge the nar- ratives of the political elites and participate in the construction of war legitimization. Arguably, influential to all of the most recent studies is the notion of ‘mediatization’ as formulated by Mazzoleni and Schulz (1999), Jansson (2002), Schulz (2004), Hjarvard (2004), and Strömbäck (2008) who write of ‘a process through which core elements of a social or cultural activity (like work, leisure, play etc.) assume media form’ (Hjarvard, 2004, p. 48). Furthermore, most of the arguments discussed above are indebted to the works of so-called ‘postmodernist’ scholars like Virilio and Baudrillard (1981). The latter characterizes postmodernity as the age when, in a complete reversal of modernist thinking, images, appear- ances, and signs become more important than material or objective values. According to him, it is the mass media that transfigure real- ity into simulation through a continuous semiotic process: on the one hand, the media segment, fragment, and transform the world into suc- cessive signs while, on the other hand, we consume, interpret, and experience not the ‘real’ world, but just the signs of it. In this radical analysis of the epistemological effects of the media, Baudrillard argues that events are ultimately transformed into ‘nonevents’: media simula- tion prevails over the ground-level event and causes events not to take place. Baudrillard uses contemporary conflict as an example of this pro- cess when he provocatively claims that the Gulf War in 1991 did not actually happen (Baudrillard, 1991). Moreover, he also argues that the PROOF 8 Media Power and the Transformation of War prevalence of simulation has put the credibility of war, and therefore its social function, under question. According to Baudrillard, after 1945 war passed from being ‘hot’ to ‘cold’, and finally ‘dead’, because it is con- ducted according to the media model, by annihilating the ‘other’, the enemy, at a distance so that we only have technologically mediated and ‘clean’ relations, while any dual or personal relation is missing.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The CNN Effect in Action Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication Series Editor Philip Seib, Marquette University (USA)
    The CNN Effect in Action Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication Series editor Philip Seib, Marquette University (USA) From democratization to terrorism, economic development to conflict resolution, global political dynamics are affected by the increasing pervasiveness and influence of communication media. This series examines the participants and their tools, their strategies and their impact. It offers a mix of comparative and tightly focused analyses that bridge the various elements of communication and political science included in the field of international studies. Particular emphasis is placed on topics related to the rapidly changing communication environment that is being shaped by new technologies and new political realities. This is the evolving world of international political communication. Editorial Board Members: Hussein Amin, American University in Cairo (Egypt) Robin Brown, University of Leeds (UK) Eytan Gilboa, Bar-Ilan University (Israel) Steven Livingston, George Washington University (USA) Robin Mansell, London School of Economics and Political Science (UK) Holli Semetko, Emory University (USA) Ingrid Volkmer, University of Otago (New Zealand) Books Appearing in this Series Media and the Politics of Failure: Great Powers, Communication Strategies, and Military Defeats By Laura Roselle The CNN Effect in Action: How the News Media Pushed the West toward War in Kosovo By Babak Bahador The CNN Effect in Action How the News Media Pushed the West toward War in Kosovo Babak Bahador THE CNN EFFECT IN ACTION © Babak Bahador, PhD, 2007. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-1-4039-7519-5 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
    [Show full text]
  • Syrian Crisis Representation in the Media: the CNN Effect, Framing, and Tone
    The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal Volume 3 Article 1 5-1-2019 Syrian Crisis Representation in The ediM a: The CNN Effect, Framing, and Tone Savannah S. Day University of Mississippi, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/umurjournal Part of the Communications Law Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Comparative Politics Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, International Relations Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Models and Methods Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Television Commons, and the Terrorism Studies Commons Recommended Citation Day, Savannah S. (2019) "Syrian Crisis Representation in The eM dia: The NNC Effect, Framing, and Tone," The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 3 , Article 1. Available at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/umurjournal/vol3/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in The nivU ersity of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal by an authorized editor of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of Mississippi Undergraduate Resarch Journal Humanities Introduction ing relationship between media coverage and refugee crises will impact policy for In March of 2011, the Arab Spring centuries to come. began. As part of this large uprising to dethrone oppressive leaders across the Middle East, and in efforts to take down A General Reflection of The Syrian the authoritarian government of President Crisis in The Media Bashar al-Assad, Syrian rebels went to war against their own state.
    [Show full text]
  • The CNN Effect: the Search for a Communication Theory of International Relations
    Political Communication, 22:27-44 |"% Dr)ijt|pr|QP Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis Inc. icf '^7 . ' ^ ISSN: 1058-4609 print / 1091-7675 online SV Taylor & Francs Croup DOI: 10.1080/10584600590908429 The CNN Effect: The Search for a Communication Theory of International Relations EYTAN GILBOA This study investigates the decade long effort to construct and validate a communi- cations theory of international relations that asserts that global television networks, such as CNN and BBC Worid, have become a decisive actor in determining policies and outcomes of significant events. It systematically and critically analyzes major works published on this theory, known also as the CNN effect, both in professional and academic outlets. These publications include theoretical and comparative works, specific case studies, and even new paradigms. The study reveals an ongoing debate on the validity of this theory and concludes that studies have yet to present sufficient evidence validating the CNN effect, that many works have exaggerated this effect, and that the focus on this theory has deflected attention from other ways giobai television affects mass communication, joumalism, and intemational relations. The article also proposes a new agenda for research on the various effects of global television networks. Keywords CNN effect, communication technologies, foreign policymaking, global communication, humanitarian intervention, intemational conflict, paradigms, televi- sion news, U.S. foreign policy The Second World War created for the first time in history a truly global intemational system. Events in one region affect events elsewhere and therefore are of interest to states in other, even distant places. At the beginning of the 1980s, innovations in com- munication technologies and the vision of Ted Turner produced CNN, the first global news network (Whittemore, 1990).
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT Title of Document: JAPANESE and US MEDIA COVERAGE of the IRAQ
    ABSTRACT Title of Document: JAPANESE AND U.S. MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE IRAQ WAR: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS Kazuhiro Maeshima, Ph.D., 2007 Directed By: Professor Miranda Schreurs, Department of Government and Politics This study investigates the relationship between the media and politics by analyzing the Iraq War coverage of two leading U.S. and Japanese newspapers: the New York Times and the Asahi. This dissertation reveals that these two print media, although both liberal in their general orientation, treated the Iraq War differently. First, it quantitatively finds that they are quite distinctive in their choice of main topics. During the run-up period to the war, the Asahi put more focus on the role of the United Nations while the majority of the stories appearing in the New York Times addressed U.S. decisions about Iraq. Second, the dissertation’s qualitative analysis of editorials reveals that a different emphasis on who the “evil” doers in the war are. While the New York Times treated the oppressive Saddam Hussein regime and terrorists as the “evildoers,” the Asahi portrayed the U.S. as the big evil doer. Further, content analysis of articles written by embedded journalists who were with coalition forces in Iraq revealed that the two newspapers’ articles showed significant disparities in the degree of sympathy they showed to the forces. Numerous background factors have influenced this media content. Interviews with Japanese journalists and scholars revealed that the cultures of anti-militarism held by Japanese that originated from Japan’s defeat in World War II remain firm within Japanese news organizations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of Media on the Formulation of Foreign Policy in Turkey and Greece
    Istanbul Bilgi University Institute of Social Sciences MA program in International Relations Master Thesis Title: The Impact of Media on the Formulation of Foreign Policy in Turkey and Greece 2004 - 2011 Niki Christopoulou 110605024 Thesis Supervisor ASST. PROF. DR. ŞADAN İNAN RÜMA Istanbul Summer 2011 The Impact of Media on the Formulation of Foreign Policy in Turkey and Greece 2004 - 2011 Türkiye ve Yunanistan Dış Politikası Formülasyonuna Medyanın Etkisi 2004 - 2011 Niki Christopoulou 110605024 Yrd. Doç. Dr. ŞADAN İNAN RÜMA : …………………………. Yrd. Doç. Dr. HARRY TZIMITRAS : ...……………………….. Öğr. Gör. PETER WIDMANN : …………………………. KEYWORDS: Greek – Turkish Relations, foreign policy formulation, media, influence ANAHTAR KELIMELER: Türk-Yunan ilişkileri, dış politika yapımı, medya, etki ii ABSTRACT The present thesis aims to the examination of the relationship between the media and the foreign policy formulation in the bilateral relations of Greece and Turkey, beginning from 2004 until 2011. By analyzing the theoretical framework of media – state relations and conducting a research in the archives of two mainstream Greek and two mainstream Turkish newspapers in three different cases, which show different aspects of the bilateral relations of the two countries, this study seeks to find if influence on foreign policy formulation, regarding the relations of the two countries, can be traced and explained. The issues of pressure by the media, current situation of media companies in Greece and Turkey, and similarities, as well as differences between the functioning of these companies and their relation to the state, are also met. Key Words: Greek – Turkish relations, foreign policy formulation, media, influence Özet Bu tez, medya ve dış politika yapımı arasındaki ilişki bağlamında 2004-2011 yılları arasındaki dönemde Türk-Yunanilişkilerinde dış politikan oluşturulması sürecini incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır.
    [Show full text]
  • From the CNN Effect to the Al –Jazeere Effect
    Journal of International Relations and Foreign Policy December 2016, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 45-61 ISSN: 2333-5866 (Print), 2333-5874 (Online) Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. Published by American Research Institute for Policy Development DOI: 10.15640/jirfp.v4n2a3 URL: https://doi.org/10.15640/jirfp.v4n2a3 The Role of the Media in International Relations: From the CNN Effect to the Al –Jazeere Effect Filiz Coban1 Abstract International networks foster solidarity within an information audience by creating virtual communities. Namely CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera are increasing people’s awareness in their religion, culture and place in the world. In addition, faster and easily accessible information within global media had triggered the information wars among the states which have changed power politics. This article argues that the involvement of the media in international relations signifies interdependence and mutual exploitation between the media and politics. In this context, with a specific emphasise on the concept of ‘the CNN effect’ and ‘the Al-Jazeere effect’, it shows how the media have become integral parts of the world politics, how they have transformed international power struggle and have enabled the rise of the rest against the Western hegemony Keywords: media; international politics; CNN effect; Al-Jazeere Effect Introduction Despite media’s unquestioned importance in the conduct of international affairs, it seems that the Studies of International Relations (IR) still fail to address the issue adequately and comprehensively,
    [Show full text]
  • Rotberg, Robert I., and Thomas G. Weiss, Eds. from Massacres to Genocide: the Media, Public Policy, and Humanitarian Crises
    Document generated on 09/25/2021 3:30 a.m. Journal of Conflict Studies Rotberg, Robert I., and Thomas G. Weiss, eds. From Massacres to Genocide: The Media, Public Policy, and Humanitarian Crises. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution and World Peace Foundation, 1996. Kurt Mills Volume 17, Number 2, Fall 1997 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/jcs17_02br02 See table of contents Publisher(s) The University of New Brunswick ISSN 1198-8614 (print) 1715-5673 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this review Mills, K. (1997). Review of [Rotberg, Robert I., and Thomas G. Weiss, eds. From Massacres to Genocide: The Media, Public Policy, and Humanitarian Crises. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution and World Peace Foundation, 1996.] Journal of Conflict Studies, 17(2), 177–180. All rights reserved © Centre for Conflict Studies, UNB, 1997 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Rotberg, Robert I., and Thomas G. Weiss, eds. From Massacres to Genocide: The Media, Public Policy, and Humanitarian Crises. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution and World Peace Foundation, 1996. Is there a correlation between media coverage of humanitarian crises and international response? Is the role of the media key in generating public support for forceful intervention in complex humanitarian emergencies halfway around the world? Can the media be used more effectively to generate effective and sustained responses to such emergencies? These are some of the questions this edited volume examines.
    [Show full text]
  • Moving Media and Conflict Studies Beyond the CNN Effect Eytan Gilboa Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert Jason Miklian Piers Robinson*
    Review of International Studies, Vol. 42, part 4, pp. 654–672. doi:10.1017/S026021051600005X © British International Studies Association 2016. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. First published online 3 March 2016 . Moving media and conflict studies beyond the CNN effect Eytan Gilboa Professor and Director, The Center for International Communication, Bar-Ilan University Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert Senior Researcher, The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Jason Miklian https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Senior Researcher, The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Piers Robinson* Senior Lecturer in International Politics, University of Manchester Abstract After the ‘CNN effect’ concept was coined two decades ago, it quickly became a popular shorthand to understand media-conflict interactions. Although the connection has probably always been more complex than what was captured in the concept, research needs to be updated in order to better understand the multifaceted contemporary environments of both media and conflict. There are growing numbers and types of media sources, and multiple interactions between media and conflict actors, policymakers and engaged publics from the local to the global and back. We argue that , subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at understanding the impact of media reporting on conflict requires a new framework that captures the multilevel and hybrid media environments of contemporary conflicts. This study provides a roadmap of how to systematically unpack this environment.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cnn Effect 1
    Running head: THE CNN EFFECT 1 The CNN Effect: Mass Media and Humanitarian Aid Jared Bredeson A Senior Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation in the Honors Program Liberty University Spring 2011 THE CNN EFFECT 2 Acceptance of Senior Honors Thesis This Senior Honors Thesis is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the Honors Program of Liberty University. ______________________________ Clifford W. Kelly, Ph.D. Thesis Chair ______________________________ Douglas Mann, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________ Amy Bonebright, M.A. Committee Member ______________________________ James H. Nutter, D.A. Honors Director ______________________________ Date THE CNN EFFECT 3 Abstract Mass media have great power and great responsibility. The CNN Effect states that when news media broadcast emotionally driven stories of human crisis, this provokes a major response by domestic audiences and political elites. This power to influence public policy can help save people from danger and even death. Acts of massive genocide were committed in Rwanda and Darfur. Because the media failed to act quickly and report accurately on these situations, many people lost their lives due to slow international reaction. News media need to learn from these tragic mistakes and never let genocide go on unnoticed by those who have the power to stop it. THE CNN EFFECT 4 The CNN Effect: Mass Media and Humanitarian Aid Mass media have an enormous influence over the public. From advertising to news broadcasts to nightly sitcoms, people are continuously bombarded with opinions and information (Cohen, Gunther, Talor & Tsfati, 2010). Many do not realize the impact media have on their lives.
    [Show full text]
  • The Effect of 24-Hour Television News on American Democracy and the Daily Show As a Counterbalance to 24-Hour News: a History
    W&M ScholarWorks Undergraduate Honors Theses Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 5-2010 The Effect of 24-Hour Television News on American Democracy and The Daily Show as a Counterbalance to 24-Hour News: A History Thomas W. Queen College of William and Mary Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Queen, Thomas W., "The Effect of 24-Hour Television News on American Democracy and The Daily Show as a Counterbalance to 24-Hour News: A History" (2010). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 669. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/669 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Effect of 24-Hour Television News on American Democracy & The Daily Show as a Counterbalance to 24-Hour News ◊ A History BY Thomas Queen Copyright © 2010 by Thomas Queen All rights reserved. ii Contents Acknowledgements iv Preface 1 ONE Media in America 4 TWO The Election that Went Awry 24 THREE The Longer than Expected War 57 FOUR De Tocqueville’s Reef 99 Notes 109 Bibliography 119 iii Acknowledgements To my parents, who in middle school let me stay up to watch The Daily Show; to my professors, who finally got me to avoid passive voice; to my friends, who heard more about this project than they probably cared but listened anyway: thank you.
    [Show full text]
  • 43 the Influence of the CNN Effect and the Al Jazeera Effect On
    The Influence of the CNN Effect and the Al Jazeera Effect on American Foreign Policy Shqipe Palloshi* Abstract This article explores the relationship between American mass media and foreign international news channels on United States foreign policy. Initially, the paper examines the ability of contemporary global mass media to influence governments’ policy making. Then, it focuses on the ability of American mass media to influence the foreign policy decisionmaking at the White House. The last part of this article examines the influence that foreign global mass media (in this case, Al Jazeera) can or cannot have on U.S. foreign policy decisions. Finally, the article ends with an assessment of both the CNN Effect and the Al Jazeera Effect in terms of the significance and the benefits and/or drawbacks of their influence. In conclusion the article discusses whether the United States government has the ability to control this media influence and use it to support its policy agenda, and with an assessment of the future of the CNN effect and the Al Jazeera effect. Key words: U.S. foreign policy, media, CNN effect, Al Jazeera effect; Introduction With the advent of geosynchronous satellites, first launched by the US government in 1965, the ability of governments to exclusively control information came to a slow but profound end (Price 2002), and the process of foreign decision-making has become more of a theater. The public now receives information about international events as they happen, leaving little time for policymakers to consider their options. In our era, the prestige and power of a state are not determined by military power, but by media influence.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of the Global News Media on Nigeria
    GLOBALISATION AND NEWS MEDIA: THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL NEWS MEDIA ON NIGERIA J.O.E. Mbagwu Ph.D. 2011 Globalisation and News Media: The Impact of the Global News Media on Nigeria Joy Oluoma Ezeji Mbagwu A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Staffordshire University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2011 Joy Oluoma Ezeji Mbagwu A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Staffordshire University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2011 Abstract The focus of this thesis is the impact of the global news media on Nigeria, and the extent to which it has affected Nigeria’s development and international relations. The unprecedented impact of the global news media in recent decades has been conceptualised as perpetuating underdevelopment and inequality in the developing countries. This study develops the idea that the kind of global news that flows into and out of Nigeria, coupled with the access Nigerians and the world have to the news, as well as the way it is packaged, shaped, represented and interpreted, have profound effects on Nigeria. The study integrates both quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches. It refers to and selects from various theories of International Relations (IR) and Mass Communication. It is apparent that there is a growing perception that the global news media have influenced Nigerian society. The study suggests that the effects of the global media on Nigeria are psychological, sociological, economic, cultural and political. The global news media are believed to be the best instruments for the purpose of stimulating global and transnational economic development and international relations.
    [Show full text]