Page 116 - The CNN Effect in Action - How the News Media Pushed the West toward War ini Kosovo

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THE CNN EFFECT IN ACTION
Table 5.5 Television Coverage of Kosovo Massacres versus Total Coverage on
Leading Networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN): March 1, 1998–March 20,
1999
Percentage of
Total
Average
Total
Percentage of
Coverage
Minutes/Day
Weeks
Time
Minutes
100
100
Overall
3
55
5
2 ⁄4
1061 ⁄6
Drenica
3.6
14
1
2
7.5
2 weeks
5 ⁄3
79 ⁄6
9.4
5
7.3
2
4 weeks
28
3 ⁄9
99 ⁄3
Gornje Obrinje
2 weeks
1
3.6
1
16.5
14
175 ⁄3
12 ⁄2
7.3
24.0
2
28
4 weeks
9
254 ⁄3
Racak
3.6
8.0
6
2 weeks
14
1
85 ⁄6
2
4 weeks
14.7
5
28
7.3
155 ⁄3
5 ⁄9
All Three Massacres
32.0
10.9
2 weeks
42
5
8
344 ⁄6
48.0
21.8
4 weeks
84
6
1
515 ⁄6
Table 5.6 Massacres as Proportion of Overall Death and Destruction
during the Kosovo Civil War: March 1, 1998–March 20, 1999
Kosovo Civil All Three Percentage of
War Massacres Total
Total Kosovo Albanians Killed 2,000 156 7.8
Total Villages Attacked/Destroyed 400 8 2.5
to the final full week before the NATO intervention (a period of
55 weeks or 385 days), there was 1,061 minutes and 50 seconds of
total Kosovo coverage, representing 3 percent of all American television
news over this period. 51 Based on the total minutes devoted to
Kosovo over the total number of days in this period, Kosovo received
an average of 2 minutes and 45 seconds of coverage each day. 52 In
periods immediately after the three massacre incidents, however, there
was much greater coverage. In the two weeks (14 days) after images
of the incidents first surfaced, for example, the average coverage per
day was 8 minutes —almost three times the daily average (5 minutes