Page 58 - The CNN Effect in Action - How the News Media Pushed the West toward War ini Kosovo

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DEMONSTRATING THE CNN EFFECT
In this struggle, Gadi Wolfsfeld provides an informative model
depicting access as a conflict between those with political power
(authorities) and those without (challengers). According to the model,
while political power brings important advantages, it does not guarantee
full control over access. Other variables such as the challengers’ political
and social status, organization and resources, and behavior, all play
important roles in gaining control of the political environment and
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When challengers have limited status,
ultimately having access.
organization, and resources, they must employ exceptional behavior to
gain media access and such behavior must constantly be reproduced
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and even escalated to remain newsworthy.
The second media requirement for a CNN effect is unexpected and
emotive images of events from the territory accessed. Such events can
be intentionally generated by the exceptional behavior of challengers,
or may be unintentional, as seen by the substantial media coverage
surrounding natural disasters with high casualties. The growing preva-
lence of images from such unexpected events has been facilitated since
the late 1990s by advancements in technology and news delivery for-
mat, as manifested by the growth of events-driven news that can evade
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the control mechanisms of traditional institutional-based news. The
possibility of avoiding such controls means that governments that
cannot anticipate such events are instead forced to react to them. 69
Under such scenarios, opportunities arise for the challengers to the
government’s official position to promote an alternative explanation
of unexpected events, and the media have greater leverage to formulate
framing independent of official policy.
The third media variable that is essential for a CNN effect is framing
that challenges official policy, making it appear misguided or ineffec-
tive. Such framing, in the context of a potential intervention, is often
sympathetic to a particular party, presenting them as innocent victims in
need of outside help. Images of victims are amongst the most powerful
means of delivering a frame, as they provide human interest, drama, as
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well as moral lessons about good and evil. The most effective frames
employ images and accompanying narratives that are highly salient to
the culture that they are targeting, meaning they are noticeable,
understandable, memorable, and emotionally charged. 71 Effective
frames can tap into clusters of connected ideas and feelings stored in
the long-term memory of most members of a particular culture and
evoke a particular interpretive process in the human mind. 72
In the context of third-party interventions, for example, references
to ethnic cleansing and massacred victims might evoke negative
thoughts about the Holocaust and other recent human tragedies to