Page 78 - The CNN Effect in Action - How the News Media Pushed the West toward War ini Kosovo

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THE CNN EFFECT AND WAR
was not lost to military planners in subsequent analysis. The U.S. military
since the Vietnam War has devoted great efforts to dealing with the
media. Some commanders take a philosophical view toward the media
and consider it another element like the weather that must be incorpo-
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In most cases, this means striking a balance
rated into the planning.
and accommodating the media’s needs to the degree to which military
operations can still go forward without risk. If unexpected situations
should arise in its future that place operations and personnel in jeopardy,
however, the military has considered harsher remedial methods, such as
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imprisoning journalists and jamming the signals of broadcasters.
The second way that the CNN effect can impact the military is
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indirectly by reducing the support of the people and government.
Maintaining support amongst the people and government, as outlined
earlier, is vital to increasing the probability of a successful military
campaign. If the military is seen as acting outside the provisions of a just
war or if the costs of a war are perceived as disproportionately greater
than the ends sought, public support can often decline. With the CNN
effect, video footage of dead civilians can be just as deadly for achieving
final victory as a battlefield loss. This is particularly true if interventions
are sold on humanitarian reasons, where vital interests are not perceived
to be at stake. Although the CNN effect can have repercussions when a
military acts, it can also be a factor in decisions not to act. This inaction
can be at the strategic and tactical level. Strategically, for example, the
military might avoid bombing civilian areas altogether to avoid collat-
eral damage even though there might be legitimate military targets scat-
tered across these areas. Tactically, units and soldiers might be much
more timid to conduct an operation and avoid anything that could be
perceived as media-risky. In a detailed study, Gadi Wolfsfeld argued that
Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories actually changed their behavior
as a result of media presence during the first Palestinian Intifada. 38
During a battle, however, such concern and timidity goes against the
very nature of fighting, which requires bravery and risk-taking. This can
be particularly problematic for a military when the adversary is not
under the same scrutiny, as is often the case in battles between
democracies and dictatorships or insurgents.
The Government and
the CNN Effect
The two areas of governance most often associated with the CNN
effect in the literature are diplomacy and foreign policy. Foreign
policy, of course, relates to diplomacy and provides much of the