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THE CNN EFFECT IN ACTION
policy emerges when there is a divergence between political culture
and the official policy. When such gaps emerge, it is assumed that crit-
icism from both the media and the government elite is likely to follow.
Another challenge to the CNN effect is hegemonic theory that claims
a more dominant role for elites and the government. Although varia-
tions of this theme exist, it is most commonly linked to the work of
Chomsky and Herman and their legendary book, Manufacturing
Consent, in which the authors claim that media news is selected and
presented in ways that promote the interests of powerful elite in
105
government and business.
This selection is the outcome of a five-part
filtering process involving corporate, advertising, sourcing, flak, and
ideological (anticommunism during the cold war and antiterrorism
106
Far from being autonomous, Herman
post–September 11) filters.
and Chomsky’s propaganda model claims that journalists and the media
are propaganda tools that the elite use to manufacture consent of the
masses for the purpose of forwarding their own interests, often under
the guise of collective interests. In foreign policy, for example, what are
presented as the interests of a nation, in fact, might be the true interests
of only the elite within that state and detrimental to the poor and
working classes. In brief, hegemonic models argue that media systems
reflect the distribution of economic, political, and symbolic power in
society. 107
Although the manufacturing consent thesis puts forward an
attractive and convincing case at times, its critics point to method-
ological problems in its selective use of evidence, ideologically driven
political activism, polemical style, and conspiratorial and deterministic
conclusions. 108 Critics also point to examples of media coverage that
should not have made it through the propaganda model, but
nonetheless did, such as the U.S. media’s coverage of the 1988
gassing of Kurds at Halabja—conducted at the time when Saddam
Hussein had American support in his war against Iran. 109 There is also
evidence that media coverage of political leaders has become increas-
ingly cynical over the last decades of the twentieth century, with
negative coverage outnumbering positive ones by the 1990s. 110
Furthermore, there are prizes, promotion, and prestige for journalists
who uncover shocking and disturbing aspects of the social and politi-
cal world, and these findings do not usually benefit authorities. The
growing trend toward investigative reporting thrives on demonstrat-
ing the corrupting influence of power. 111 According to Wolfsfeld,
“There is a long tradition in the Western news media that sets a high
value on stories that show how those in power are corrupt, cruel,