Media and the U.S. Foreign Policy: The CNN Chilling Effect

Media and the U.S. Foreign Policy: The CNN Chilling Effect
Your Name here
POLS 4460: Social Science
Dr. Gabardi & Idaho State University
March 7, 2015
An axiom of contemporary discourse on international communication is that global-reach media organizations produced images of countries inform, shape, and contribute to people's understanding- or misunderstanding -of these countries. Consider this image: U.S. military personnel off-loading combat vehicles at a foreign seaport fill the TV screen as the scrolling marquee reads: “CNN DEPLOYS U.S. TROOPS TO MIDDLE EAST. TOTAL CASUALTIES EXCEED 153!” Consider how Americans would react if they discovered that the Cable News Network (CNN), or Fox News, or News Corporation, or ABC, or NBC News to name just a few media organizations, were responsible for the deployment and subsequent deaths of American soldiers in foreign lands. The words “angry” and “mob” come to mind. If proponents of the CNN Chilling Effect theory are right and mass media actually do influence foreign policy decisions, then media corporations are, to some extent, liable for such U.S. foreign policy actions.
Although at first glance, one might think this suggestion of intentional CNN persuasion and unrestricted political power both absurd and conspiratorial, this essay discusses several well-documented, historical incidents to determine if there is a connection between CNN media coverage and subsequent U.S. foreign policy actions. The purpose of this essay is to discuss a set of conditions (if extant) under which CNN media organizations can have sufficient impact on U.S. foreign policymakers to cause them to commit U.S. military assets to overseas operations in which they would otherwise not be involved. The goal of this essay is to support or refute the concept that CNN has a chilling influence to U.S. foreign policy makers.
The way in which the media corporations imagines and represents other countries has been of significant interest because such representations are generally acknowledged as having an important influence on the political-economic and cultural relations between nations. 2 For the country or nation-state with the media-power to imagine and disseminate images of a foreign country, these images often serve as the reality against which that nation’s military and political action can be planned, legitimated, and executed. For the country or nation being imagined or represented by the mass-media, these images serve as a useful counter-balance to its localized and national view of self, and often help the country to evaluate and understand itself from a more “objective” or international perspective. Furthermore, these mass-media images typically entail a number of biases and stereotypes, all of which play a vital role in shaping the foreign policy of the government imagined.
In order to more fully comprehend the complex nature of the media-government relationship, one must be aware of the numerous components of this relationship. These critical components include a number of competing factors between the media and the government, the separate media and foreign policy actors, the distinct media and foreign policy agendas and motiva...