Could there have been no 'CNN effect' before the birth of satellite television?

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‘Could there have been no '‘CNN effect’' before the birth of satellite television?
The concept of ‘CNN effect’ first emerged in the year of 1990s. At a time when the
political as well as economical crisis emerged during 1990s drew the attention of the entire
world, the ‘CNN effect’ was first recognized (Badsey, 2013). Over the years, the term ‘CNN
effect’ has been a discussion. In connection with the term, the role of the popular broadcast
channel has grabbed the attention of the scholars since the term ‘CNN effect’ has secured its
place in the political science and media studies as phenomenon. Playing its role as a watchdog of
the society, the impact of the news channel CNN on serious issues across the world gave birth to
the term. Many researches were done on the term ‘CNN effect’, as to define or clarify the
concept of ‘CNN effect’ and its impact on society, politics and economy of the world (Coban,
2016). However, it also raises question on the role of other branches of media as to why the
broadcast channel has a significant impact on society and politics over the other forms of media
that are radio, print and online. Hence shedding light on the phenomena ‘CNN effect’, the
essay will analyze where there were any possibilities of another ‘effect’ before the era of
satellite television. In the whole course of the discussion, the study will give special attention on
how the term ‘CNN effect’ came into use and how it became a phenomenon of media studies and
political science. Meanwhile the essay will also throw light on the role of the 24*7 news channel
CNN behind the emergence of term. The main part of the discussion will include the analysis of
the reasons for which there was no media influence on society in an active manner like ‘‘CNN
effect’’ before television era. Finally the report will conclude by giving a summarization of the
whole essay.
According to Coban, (2016), during the crisis of humanitarian crisis in the 1990s, the
24*7 news channel CNN have aired some shocking image of humanitarian crisis which forced

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the U. S. policy makers for intervention in the issue of humanitarian issue which they might not
consider showing interest to. From that the ‘CNN effect’ emerged as the theory that media
mainly the 24*7 news network has the ability to influence the political as well as economic
climate significant manner.
As per Campbell, (2017), media being played the role of a watchdog of the society draws
the attention of the viewers to a particular matter or incident that are of serious concern to the
society. By making coverage of incidents that are of interest for the sake of society, the news
networks can persuade the government or international organizations or individual to take more
proactive action to an issue of social immense importance. Instances can be given with the
illustration of CNN.
CNN during the later period of Cold War and post Cold War period, CNN’s coverage had
major impact on the state’s foreign policy (Coban, 2016). Since press or news network is
considered to be the ‘fourth estate’, the news network always has the ability to impact the
representatives of the democracies in terms of policy making. The news network CNN played
the pioneering role in establishing the term as a theory.
In accordance with Doucet, (2018), the coverage of events like the First Gulf War,
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Battle of Mogadishu and the fall of the Communism in
Eastern Europe are some of the most vital incidents that brought the actual scenario of the
incident forced the American government to give immediate attention to the matter for the sake
of people. In addition, the incident of Kurdish Crisis and Bosnia War deserve mention since
CNN’s coverage of those incidents brought the situation into highlight of U. S. government
which led to their serious intervention of the matter (Coban, 2016). This is how the term ‘‘CNN

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effect’’ came into use with the journalism by CNN. Originated from the CNN coverage, the term
has come in the use in a broader sense in the modern media studies as a theory and it is no more
exclusive to CNN or any other news network.
In terms of theory in the political science and media science, ‘CNN effect’ is considered
as the theory following which journalism serves its actual purpose, the speaker of democracy
(Cushion, 2015). In a more integrated manner, ‘CNN effect’ is considered as the way of
spreading the news to public without adding colors to it or without any political or any other
propaganda (Deaville, 2013). In other words, ‘CNN effect’s can be referred as the abilities of the
news network in order to shape the public opinion and the policy makers in a democratic
country. Thus the term ‘CNN effect’ stresses on the active journalism of the news networks that
exclusively emerged in the post satellite television era.
Now the question may arise that why could not have been there any ‘CNN effect’
before satellite television era. In order to discuss in a detail in critical manner, it must be
elaborated the nature of media coverage and the role of media before the birth of satellite
television. During the pre satellite television period the news network was mainly dominated by
the print media.
As per Deaville, (2013), until 20th century, print media had been the primary mode of
journalism. For a prolonged period, newspaper industry was solely depended on manpower; from
writing news articles to editing and proofreading the manual system through hand written mode
were followed (Gilboa et al., 2016). From news gathering to publishing it, the entire process
were extremely time consumable since it was manual. It was often seen that the news would lose