The CNN Effect

Information is power. The manipulation of information, more importantly the media, is the most efficient way to dictate the events of a nation. In a Soviet style press system, all forms of media are strictly controlled, so the public only knows what the government wants them to know. The United States of America was built on the foundation of a free press. It is in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights because the framers of the Constitution believed that a democracy could only prosper with an unrestricted press, one that can act as a watchdog on government, even to act as a “fourth branch” of government. Growing technology, such as television and the internet have made the watchdog even more powerful than the founding fathers could have ever imagined.

News has evolved so much in history of America. First people could only read news in daily newspapers. Television came along and led to news cycles throughout the day at specific times when you could get information and news. In 1980, CNN was founded by Ted Turner. It was the first television network that set out to produce 24 hour news coverage. While now CNN isn’t the only network to have accomplished this, they are credited with starting a whole new relationship between the media, government and public relations. The “CNN Effect” is a phenomenon in which some say that government decisions can be directly affected by the quick and widespread nature of news coverage.

Some say that the actions taken by the US government in the early 1990’s with regards to Somalia were directly influenced by the CNN effect. Larry Eagleburger, the Secretary of State at the time, admitted in a panel discussion sponsored by the Brookings Institute that President Bush’s decision to send troops to Somalia was clearly influenced by pictures on television. The news networks were airing pictures of starving children suffering in Somalia, and it made it tough for the administration to turn the other way. It proves the strength that a picture can have. An interest group could have sent letter after letter to the President asking him to help the starving children of Somalia, and nothing would have come of it. Yet when there are pictures, when these children are given a face that is pumped through TV sets across the country, the administration has to respond. Without a response the Bush administration would have appeared inhumane. American troops did enter Somalia, but they did not stay there for long. New pictures started to cycle the news networks, this time of a dead American soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. The new pictures influenced the new administration to remove the troops from Somalia.

Another possible example of the CNN effect was the prisoner abuse scandal in the Iraqi central prison at Abu Ghraib. In January of 2004 an internal Army inquiry was ordered by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez about prisoner torture and abuse. The New York Times ran a story covering this inquiry on January 19th, but it was not a major story. It did become a major story when pictures from the prison were first released by 60 Minutes in April. The pictures were graphic and lead to a media frenzy about torture by Americans who were supposed to be in Iraq on a “civilizing mission.” Once the pictures were released, and were cycled all over television and the internet. The “internal” inquiry then became a public circus, and everybody wanted answers. Immediately the American soldiers who were involved were expelled from the army, and soon after were sent to trial for their crimes. Two of the soldiers, the ones in the pictures, were sentenced to jail time. This event had longer lasting effects as well. President Obama’s first executive order when taking office this year was about the closing of the prison in Guantanamo Bay. This prison is notorious for the torturing of suspected terrorists. President Obama’s decision was most likely influenced by the pictures that were released from Abu Ghraib. After those pictures, America’s image was damaged around the world. The President decided that the rebuilding of the image was even more important than the rebuilding of a struggling economy.

One picture may be worth 1000 words, but one picture on CNN is worth way more.