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THE CNN EFFECT IN ACTION
Westerners, followed by a desire to act in order to stop such scenarios
from recurring. According to Robert Entman, “words and images for
which the culture’s common schemas evoke strong emotional
responses have a greater probability of influencing more people than
other words and images, if only because emotional stimuli typically
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receive more attention from otherwise distracted, apolitical citizens.”
While governments have significant resources to effectively communi-
cate and exploit cultural preferences in promoting their policy,
alternative frames that challenge official policy can at times have
greater cultural salience, particularly if challenging narratives are a better
fit with recent events and images.
Access, unexpected events, and challenging framing constitute the
media criteria for a possible CNN effect. These variables, however,
only constitute the first part of the model and by themselves do not
display inf luence. To demonstrate impact, changes in government
policy after events meeting these media criteria are also necessary.
Therefore, the second part of this model attempts to provide evidence
of changing government policy as well as links between such shifts and
their media coverage. This is done through the use of four research
methods that will be employed in the case study in the second section
of this volume (these research methods are referred to as tests):
quantitative, coding, policy substance, and linkage tests. Each of these
tests provides means by which evidence can be gathered in support of
the second part of the CNN effect. The following section reviews
these in more detail.
The Quantitative Test
The quantitative test, in line with the quantitative approaches outlined
earlier, attempts to determine if media coverage preceded or followed
government activity in relation to the events outlined earlier. For a
CNN effect, media coverage, in relation to the events that meet the
media criteria, should precede government activity. If media coverage
follows government actions, then an argument in support of the CNN
effect becomes more difficult to sustain.
The Coding Test
The second test involves coding the content of relevant government
documents to assess if discernable shifts can be detected over time on
particular issues, especially in periods immediately after events that
meet the media criteria for a CNN effect. It is assumed, in this regard,