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THE CNN EFFECT
Speed
Perhaps the most important and novel aspect of today’s
transcontinental television networks is speed. At its apex, it is possible
to broadcast live events to a global audience from any location on
earth instantaneously and simultaneously. Socially, shifts toward
deregulation and greater economic and political openness allow for
easier movement of journalists, access to communication infrastruc-
tures such as satellite links, and diminishing costs for the use of such
networks. Technologically, the instantaneous nature of global televi-
sion networks is based on the convergence of a number of technolog-
ical innovations that took place in the 1980s and have since improved
significantly. At the beginning of the Gulf War, several trucks were
required to move portable equipment such as satellite dishes, cameras,
and lights to a particular location, and these could transmit live images
throughout the world—a vast improvement over the technologies of
two decades earlier. Barrie Dunsmore, for example, described the lim-
itations of previous decades in an account of a video recording sent
from the Six Day War between Israel and Egypt in June 1967.
According to the veteran journalist, after reaching the Suez Canal
with the first group of Israeli soldiers on a Friday morning and cap-
turing video, the film was driven back to Tel Aviv and put on a plane
for Rome, where it was processed and edited; but by the time the
images were finally broadcast, it was Sunday night and over 48 hours
had lapsed. By that time, much of the video was already out of date as
events both on the ground and politically had advanced. 67
The technologies of the Six Day War, and even of the Gulf War,
seem ancient by the standards of innovations at the beginning of the
twenty-first century. These include digital cameras, high-bandwidth
satellite videophones, and powerful laptop computers to coordinate
transmission. Whereas it took over one ton of equipment to send live
pictures from the Gulf War, at the beginning of the twenty-first cen-
tury, it is possible to perform the same function with a few briefcases
of equipment, making access to remote locations easier, faster, and
significantly cheaper. 68
The CNN Effect and Global Awareness
The transcontinental media networks that facilitate the possibility of
the CNN effect also promote a certain global awareness or frame of
reference. This outcome, however, has not lead to homogenized
perspectives about world events. On the contrary, interpretations of