(Gowing, 1994, p.38; Strobel, 1997, p.219; Minear et al., 1996, p.73)
and emotive framed media coverage (Shaw, 1996, p.88) emerge
simultaneously. This mode can be perceived as a way of transcending
duality, linking both sides of the debate—influence and non-influence
(Balabanova, 2004), thus providing a more detailed understanding of
range of which media coverage promotes humanitarian intervention and
clarifies the elements for such intervention. The paper concludes with
reconsideration for current global media situation and anticipation for
further development of media in political involvement.
Media, Politics, War
The symbolic concept that relates to the correlation between news
coverage and policy decisions is the ‘CNN effect’. In principle, it accounts
that news can generate policy (Balabanova, 2004, p.275). Inevitably,
there are obvious discrepancies in how leading thinkers distinguish this
phenomenon. Feist (2001, p.713) portrayed in reification: “The CNN
effect is a theory that compelling television images, such as images of a
humanitarian crisis, cause U.S. policymakers to intervene in a situation
when such an intervention might otherwise not be in the U.S. national
interest.” Neuman (1996 p.15-16) characterized the effect as a ‘curve’,
which is composed of two sectors—compelling leaders to tackle issues
they would rather ignore; forcing policymakers to implement policies
against their wishes and explanations of national interests through public
opinion. The CNN effect demonstrates that the media has a dominant effect
on foreign agenda-setting, pressing administrators to take specific actions.
Furthermore, it is necessary to identify several conceptual and
representative categories of impacts of media on foreign policy
formulation under the background of CNN effect. Initially, impediment
effect (Livingston, 1997, p.293) is also categorized as the ‘body-bag
effect’ by Freedman (2000, p.337), symbolizing that casualty occurrence
causes dramatic decrease public support for an intervention. Enabling
effects (Robinson, 2002, p.37) denotes that media reporting enables
officials to practice specific course of actions. Constructively, the
theoretical interpretations above will be utilized to elucidate the following
case studies and highlight that regardless of the extent of media effect,
its substantial and pervasive existence is undeniable.
Bosnia
The following analysis examines whether news media practically
influenced US military involvement in Bosnia in 1995, especially the
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