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THE CNN EFFECT IN ACTION
pushed through? The issue of policy certainty will be reviewed in
more detail later in this chapter when Piers Robinson’s policy-media
interaction model is examined.
Despite the questionable conclusions regarding policy uncertainty
from this research approach, there is consensus that the CNN effect,
although rare, occurs after certain unexpected and emotive events.
The possibility and increasing prevalence of such events is a result
of the growing importance of events-driven news stories that are
“spontaneous and not managed within institutional settings.”
events not only catch officials off guard, but can also take on an emotive
element, as viewers are taken close to the incident and individuals
affected by them, based on a new mediated proximity.
The second method in the literature focuses on how journalists’ fram-
ing of events can play a role in pressuring governments to pursue a
particular foreign policy option on an issue. Martin Shaw uses this
approach when he reviews media coverage in relation to government
policy during the Iraqi rebellions and humanitarian crises that followed
the 1991 Gulf War. 18 Media-Based Approaches 17 Such
In his study, Shaw conducts a comprehensive
assessment of British media reports as the crisis develops, focusing par-
ticularly on media criticism of Western governments and their inaction.
According to Shaw, “Television was putting the world leaders on the
spot, linking them directly to the visible plight of the miserable
refugees.” 19 The crisis garnered the greatest media coverage in early
April, when framing began to change from one of insurgency against
the Iraqi regime to one of victimhood. 20 The media was particularly
effective on this issue and successfully framed the West as responsible
for inciting the Kurdish rebellion and then abandoning it at its hour of
greatest need. In one example, he cites an ITN report that states,
Relief workers say that the situation is catastrophic. A quarter of a mil-
lion people were trudging to the Turkish border—it was “an exodus of
fear.” There is also anger and bitterness at President Bush’s refusal to
intervene. Fleeing journalists were interviewed: “It’s a problem that we
really must . . . we have an obligation to do something about.” They’ve
been let down very, very badly. 21
This framing was then successfully juxtaposed with the diplomatic
evasions of Western leaders that demonstrated inhumanity and
irresponsibility, such as those of George H.W. Bush on a fishing trip,