Humanitarian crises and U.S. foreign policy

Somalia and the CNN effect reconsidered

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12409679
AutoresSteven Livingston (0000-0003-1974-8687, George Washington University), Todd Eachus (George Washington University)
Año1995
Volumen12
Número4
Páginas413-429
Fecha de publicación1995-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolitical Communication (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1058-4609 • E-ISSN: 1091-7675
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10584609.1995.9963087
OpenAlexW1975846244
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas58
Referencias citadas14

This article explores the relationship between foreign policy making and news media coverage. Specifically, we examine the CNN effect, understood here as elite decision makers' loss of policy control to news media. The initial decisions concerning U.S. intervention in Somalia are examined and related to the nature and extent of media coverage devoted to the humanitarian crisis there. We find that in the case of Somalia, news coverage trends do not support the claim that news attention to Somalia led to the Bush administration's decision to intervene. On the basis of content analysis and interviews of officials in Washington and Africa, we argue that the decision to intervene was the result of diplomatic and bureaucratic operations, with news coverage coming in response to those decisions

Bureaucracy · Content analysis · Elite · Foreign policy · Intervention (counseling · Media coverage · Media studies · News media · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Psychology · Public Administration