Page 76 - The CNN Effect in Action - How the News Media Pushed the West toward War ini Kosovo

1403975191ts04.qxd 19-2-07 05:07 PM Page 51
51
THE CNN EFFECT AND WAR
wars such as World War I, the slow delivery of news and limits on pub-
lic access meant that many details of the conflict and the scale of dev-
astation were unknown or unclear as events unfolded. Some have
questioned whether greater media access in past conflicts could have
helped those wars end sooner. According to U.S. Senator John
McCain, “I still believe that World War I wouldn’t have lasted three
26
months if people had known what was going on in that conflict.”
In the context of war, public opinion can either buttress support for a
war or diminish it. As an intermediary within CNN and other media
effects, public opinion can strengthen the hand of those in favor of a war
or the government if a war is already occurring (through the propaganda
effect). On the other hand, through the impediment CNN effect, pub-
lic opinion can turn against an existing military campaign and potentially
damage troop morale. Vietnam is the classic example of this scenario,
which is why it is often referred to as the Vietnam syndrome. When the
United States entered the Vietnam War in 1963, the government had
strong public support that remained intact for the next five years. After
the 1968 Tet Offensive, however, the public began to question the
war in light of mounting American military casualties, images of
U.S. inflicted civilian death and destruction, and evidence demonstrating
misleading and overly optimistic claims by the government. This trend is
widely believed to have lowered U.S. military morale and contributed to
27
the eventual decision to withdraw. The importance attributed to pub-
lic support in modern democracies has meant that such nations rarely
enter war without public support. During World War II, for example,
Franklin Roosevelt is widely understood to have restrained his own
personal desire to enter the war until the Pearl Harbor attack, which
shifted U.S. public sentiment that had hitherto been isolationist and
against U.S. intervention. 28 In more recent times, public opinion, as
measured by polling results, showed initial majority support in all five
significant U.S. military engagements since the end of the cold war—
The Gulf War in 1991, Bosnia in 1995, Kosovo in 1999, Afghanistan in
2001, and Iraq in 2003. According to Entman, “conventional wisdom
amongst officials holds that leaders should avoid perceptions that the
public opposes their policy.” 29
The Military and the CNN Effect
The second pillar of the Clausewitzian trinity that is intrinsic to war is
the military. The military executes war through its strategy, which
Clausewitz defines as “the use of engagements for the object of the