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THE CNN EFFECT AND WAR
In the context of a third-party military intervention, different
media effects will influence policy at different phases leading up to the
intervention and during its execution. Graph 3.2 revisits the illustra-
tion presented in graph 2.1 and presents a number of media effects
besides the challenging CNN effect, identifying the phases in which
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each comes into play.
As the graph illustrates, the challenging CNN effect can influence
an official foreign policy that is against military intervention up to the
point when policy changes in favor of intervention. After this point,
two other media effects are most relevant. The first is the propaganda
effect, in which media images and framing promote the government’s
official policy. These can in some cases be the exact same images that
had challenged the government’s official policy under the challenging
CNN effect before the policy had changed. After the actual interven-
tion begins, the propaganda effect may be accompanied by the imped-
iment effect, which can work to opposite consequence, diminishing
support for the government’s official policy. During the 78-day NATO
bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)
in 1999, for example, images of Albanian refugees expelled from
Kosovo and pre-intervention massacre aftermaths were often used in
propagandist ways to strengthen support for the West’s war efforts. At
the same time, images of NATO blunders and collateral damage
involving civilian deaths reduced support for the war in the West. 68
This chapter has grounded the CNN effect within the larger war
literature, reviewing its potential impacts on the people, military, and
government. Amongst these areas, the government and its foreign
Policy Intervention
Change Begins
Official Against Pro-Intervention
Policy: Intervention
Timeline:
Challenging
CNN Effect
Media Propaganda
Effects:
Effect
Impediment
Effect
Graph 3.2 Different Media Effects in Relation to Policy Change in Third-
Party Military Intervention