CNN effect

One of the concepts explaining the impact of such news channels as CNN , and sources of information in general, is the concept of a “global village” by Marshall McLuhan , who argued that as a result of the development of new information transfer technologies, the world became “compressed” and its structure more similar on the device of the village , where, due to the small size, each resident receives news about the life of the people around him and various events relatively quickly. The invention of radio , and then television , as well as news agencies and companies with global reach, made it possible to learn information about events and phenomena anywhere in the world ^[3] .

The role of internationally distributed round-the-clock news reached a new stage when, in 1991 , the Storm in the Desert operation conducted by the United States against Iraq was covered live, becoming the first important event of this kind and changing the perception and presentation of news ^[4] . On the influence of news on public consciousness, including political leaders, the media wrote the well-known postmodern philosopher Jean Baudrillard in his essay " There was no war in the Gulf ", where he expressed the opinion that the masses learned about the conflict in the Middle East mainly from TV screens, respectively their perceptions of the war not necessarily correspond exactly to what was happening at that time in Iraq, but the fact that it was shown on television, and therefore, we can talk about building the media socialization nogo construct than the transfer objective information ^[5] .

Later, the main focus of the "CNN effect" shifted to foreign leaders making decisions about conducting humanitarian interventions because detailed and repeated reports were broadcast on the commission of genocide and other crimes against humanity in various countries ^[6] . We can talk about the influence of media on foreign policy decisions, relying on statements by American statesmen such as Richard Holbrooke and Anthony Lake , who recognized the merits of the media in covering, in particular, the situation in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and increasing the visibility of these events. and concerns about their development, which in turn forced politicians to take appropriate decisions ^[7] .

In addition, later, in parallel with the effect of CNN, they began to talk about the so-called “Al-Jazeera” effect , so named because of the similar influence of the Arab television channel. The term includes the influence of several televisions, new media and social networks often used by this channel to cover events ^[8] .

George Kennan , a well-known diplomat and theorist of international relations, who speaks from the standpoint of realism , criticizes the rise of the media as an influential player in political decision-making and even fourth power, saying that for greater stability and predictability of international relations, control over political (and foreign policy) the sphere should remain with the national political elites ^[7] .

The effect of CNN is also criticized from the point of view of the very approach to describing the influence of round-the-clock global media on people's perceptions. In particular, the Danish researcher Peter Viggo Jacobsen, in his article published in 2000 , criticized the effect of CNN and the dominant views on the influence of the media in general. First, according to Jacobsen, in reality, the effect of media activities is difficult to measure and feel. In addition, the scientist argues that the media most often covers only the active phase of the conflict or outbreaks of violence, leaving behind the general outline of the conflicts, which limits the contribution of the media to the settlement process. However, Jacobsen accuses the media of the fact that under the influence of the picture from the television screen, the nature of official development assistance is changing: the balance leans toward ineffective short-term funding allocated to eliminate the consequences of individual events, instead of effective long-term development assistance ^[9] .

In the spring of 2016, the magazine Review of International Studies published an article by a team of expert authors on the subject of media influence on politics and society and the effect of CNN in particular. According to them, the theory of this effect was easy to use when describing conflicts that occurred shortly after the end of the Cold War , because at that time the main role in their coverage and the formation of public opinion really belonged to round-the-clock television networks. However, the authors argue that for a complete analysis of modern interaction between the media and society, this is not enough due to the development of new technologies, new forms of communication and the departure of television to the background. In addition, the very structure of television has changed, in particular, CNN, where the agenda covered by the international version of the TV channel differs, for example, from that broadcast by the American version. According to researchers, the outdated effect of CNN must be supplemented by considering the influence of the media in terms of a hybrid approach, from small-town publications to global news agencies ^[10] .

• CNN
• Al-Jazeera effect

• [one]