Culture and Technology: The Television - Essay Example

 Culture and Technology Introduction The CNN effect is usually described as a theory in media studies and political science which describes development of popular news channel known as Cable News Network and its impact on foreign policy execution. This theory highlights the role of television in bringing forth the policies framed by government and even outlines the major reasons for conflicts taking place across the globe. The major proponents of this theory argues that depth, speed and extent of current global media have developed new species of multiple effects which was qualitatively different from all those factors which was present in the past. CNN theory describes the fact that television has taken up the major role in stating the government’s agenda and even dictating the various international relations. Global media is not only the platform which captures widespread international conflicts taking place around the world but even brings forth certain factors in front of audience which was previously hidden. The media may generally function as an agent for policy agenda setting, an impediment towards desired goals achievement and an accelerant in relation to policy decision making. This news cycle by focusing on ongoing media and instantaneous coverage on international incident, any specific conflict and diplomatic initiative puts excessive pressure for political attention and even attempt to indicate that they are at the top of any such current issues. The global television plays an essential role in representation of conflicts taking place across the globe and its consequences can even be evaluated on the basis of role of media in hegemonisation, cultural representations and international relations. Discussion Role of global television in conflict representations Conflict can be stated as one of the defining features that can be observed in the present modern world. Ever since Cold War ended there have been multiple conflicts which resulted into deaths of millions of people and even large number of them suffered from such local or national conflicts. The end results of these conflicts is that they initiate poverty, destroy external environment, bring massive suffering for human beings, displace large group of people, and even results into various problems for international community. There are certain conflicts which had attracted great deal of attention on international forum such as genocide in Rwanda and wars that took place in Balkans which led to consequences of breaking up of Yugoslavia. This war had even created a debate in relation to responsibilities and powers of the international community and this even resulted into major rifts arising in United Nations (Robinson, 2001, pp. 301-9). The role of global media in both these conflicts was pernicious. It directly incited the genocide which took place in case of Rwandan media and it served as a vehicle for promoting virulent nationalism in Yugoslavia. Both the Soviet Union and Nazis had taken help of this media so as to develop a hegemonic climate through which they can enable more power. In this scenario policy makers were slow enough to realize the benefits of media in terms of shaping present conflicts or the ways through which with proper support elements of peace can be created. The ways in which conflicts were perceived as major priorities by international community are a major event (Bennett, 2000, pp. 103-25). For instance the Gulf conflict that had taken place due to rebellious movement by Kurdish community present in northern Iraq and attacks made by state of Saddam Hussain are examples of international conflicts. In international media it was highlighted that refugees were given proper coverage and even received blanket as they flooded towards the border. The Kurds displacement was considered to be a major factor of concern for Iraq and simultaneously for Turkey refugee problem was a big issue. In this scenario the power of media coverage was unremarkable and its concern towards setting up of public opinion. The actions taken by global media proved to be much stronger in comparison to will of government. There was even international competition amongst globalized news corporation that increased tremendously and it grew so intense that global media aimed at hunting in packs, searching for the next exclusive. The volume of coverage which was taken by global media, abetted and aided by NGOs focused towards preventing any such humanitarian crisis (Van Belle, 2009, pp. 133-136). This in turn even forced Western government to start thinking in a different dimension. It even resulted in a breach of Iraq sovereignty and even intervention had taken place so as to provide required security for Kurds. This also eventually imposed no-fly zones where air force of Iraq was discarded from the region and this finally gave appropriate autonomy for Northern Iraq’s Kurdish areas. With the support of global media in this region there resulted subsequent debates in context of state sovereignty (Jones, 2010, pp. 147-149). This large scale coverage of media even imposed pressure on various western governments to protect individuals from violations of basic human rights. As per the study western governments has been noticed to intervene only after extended public media campaigns. The role of international media has been inevitable in shaping the response towards policy making by government. Its alignment towards responsibility came into existence during Bosnia conflicts. In this conflict journalists majorly felt being restricted but the major motive was to make global media become an actor in international conflict. ITN or Independent Television News had continuously reported about Serb detention camps present at Trnopolie and Omarska. This helped to develop required support in relation to UN Resolution 770 that encompassed all possible measures in humanitarian aid delivery. The media coverage of bomb attack which had taken place in 1994 in Sarajevo market was quite instrumental in terms of securing ultimatum of NATO so as to stop ongoing bombardment from the city. Priority of media is not only to cover such live incidents but even to proclaim the facts or figures to audience so that conflicts can be resolved efficiently (Bahador, 2007, pp. 77-78). The modern communities are extremely sophisticated towards understanding the various components of media and their potential strength. There can even be a small contrast drawn between local and international media outlets. For instance in Afghanistan, there are multiple international media outlets such as Liberty, BBC or VOA who in earlier years only had incorporated short wave but in recent times has implemented FM relay stations and MW transmitters across the region so that their signals can be trapped from any corner across the globe. On the other hand there is even an issue related to safety of journalists and hence maximum coverage is done by following editorial guidelines. Peace journalism has emerged while drawing in implications of global media on conflict representations (Richard, 2006, pp. 107-110). Through this approach it is viewed that media has several roles to be fulfilled and in doing so they need to adapt specific behaviour. This peace journalism reflects that global media is an agent of such conflicts and respective views or opinions have a direct impact on the procedure in which conflicts are developed. There are a set of guidelines which is followed by journalists so that they can take active participation in conflict resolution. IMPACS or Institute for Media Policy and Civil Society that is based in Canada reveals the five major components of peace intervention (Robinson, 2000, pp. 613-633). They majorly encompass training, promoting images that are positive and providing storylines that are fictional but would convey certain positive peace image. These techniques are totally different in comparison to traditional journalism approaches for resolving conflicts. The exchange of ideas and opinions is a must in the public sphere so as to convey required message and this facilitates media to possess desirable freedom so that they can execute their role appropriately. Role of global media has changed down the years as in the earlier years, media was responsible to convey required message to audience so that they are aware about their surroundings. Evaluation of its consequences The role of global media has been diverse as it focuses on underlying the reason behind international conflicts and undertakes required actions so as to resolve such conflicts. Conflicts that had taken place or are vulnerable to take place in nearby future to some extent are prevented by these media coverage. The power of global media is much more than local media as it possess the platform to reach out to large base of audience. This in turn makes people aware about the reasons for international conflicts and their probable consequences. On the other hand the consequences of media role are also widespread as they not only develop international relations but also contribute towards cultural representations (Robinson, 2012, pp. 193-197). Most of the conflicts that take place around the globe have some form of political issues or dominance of one nation on the other. This to certain extent has been eradicated by global media. Hegemonisation can be regarded as a factor which defines the enormous contribution of media towards public sphere. On the contrary this factor can also be stated as a component that describes the negativity of global media. In certain conflicts which took place between United States and Afghanistan media played the role of an agent of the conflict (Barnett, 2005, pp. 723-740). The coverage which was taken by global media so as to reveal the truth portrayed the degree of hegemonisation that existed between the two nations. On one hand it was an advantage for the leaders as they could come up with ways to end such conflicts but another aspect was that it transmitted more negativity throughout the region. Global media was successful to end many conflicts as they proclaimed the concept of mutual interest. This was a positive consequence of the role played by media in representation of conflicts. Many incidents or stories framed by media channels even imposed pressure on western governments in terms of entering into any form of compromise and ending the conflict. Global media even serves as a medium through which audience can well discriminate between negative or positive influences of one nation on another (Taylor, 2002, pp. 16-29). The nations who previously dominated developing nations are not been able to do so in present scenario as people are more firm towards any injustice in the society with extended support of global media. The global media is considered to be a driving force in all forms of international politics. There has been argument related to war coverage by TV news channel and its intervention in humanitarian purposes. There are various global media channels such as CNN that proved their humanitarian interventions during major crisis that took place in Bosnia and Somalia. On basis of the active participation of international media it is evident that it’s another consequence was formation of international relations. It was not only CNN that emerged as a global media channel telecasting all forms of essential information regarding international conflicts but there were even other media channels which had an effect on formulation of foreign policies (David & Rizwaan, 2011, pp. 133-139). The overshadowing conflict which was present in Afghanistan and Iraq was solved to a great extent by global media. International relations were framed on the basis of global media as they were able to influence the level of tactical decisions. These decisions majorly constitute such as developing specific safe areas during civil wars which took place in Bosnia in 1995. In certain scenario the impact of global media was such that it was able to acquire support from US professionals for victims affected in civil wars. On the other hand this was a medium through which two nations can be brought close to each other by exchange of support or required humanitarian aid (Gowing, 2004, pp. 123-124). The role of global media in context of international relations can also be stated as a mechanism by which governments are forced to set strategies that can bring in harmony and peace. Relations are even developed by not only resolving conflicts but even extending support during crisis situation. These exchanges were further initiated as well as highlighted by the global media. It can be stated this platform enabled governments of different nations to be aligned towards a common goal. This eradicated the probable reasons of international conflicts and even urged a fear amongst leaders as their every move were being viewed by civilians (Hammond, 2007, pp. 164-166). Global media by attempting to resolve conflicts establish strong relationship amongst different nations and even outline the ways through which these nations aim towards developing a better place. The other consequence of the global media is cultural representations. In different scenarios or countries there are different set of cultures which is often portrayed by global media. These cultures to a certain extent have significant contribution towards wide range of conflicts that took place in earlier years and even in the present scenario. On the other hand global media even eliminated cultural constraints existing in certain regions. The culture in Iraq was totally different from that in United States. International media revealed the fact that these cultural backgrounds initiated the conflict between these nations (Shaw, 2006, p. 123). The media channels are even successful to highlight the intricacies related to one’s culture and the effects of these cultures on well being of a nation. Cultural representations even outline the degree to which there are similarity between two nations and ways in which they can be used to resolve existing conflicts. For instance the civil war which had taken place in Bosnia that affected lives of millions of people was even telecasted by international media channels. This ultimately revealed the degree to which cultural norms can possess negative influence on lives of individuals (Domke, 2004, pp. 213-216). The role of media has diverse consequences like it tries to eliminate the negativity present between nations and simultaneously even establishes strong relationship between countries. It plays the role of an actor in the entire process where it tries to eradicate the causes of conflicts and influences government to take necessary actions in context of resolving conflicts. Conclusion According to the study, the role of media has been significant in international context, regarding conflict representation and resolving multiple issues. Apart from CNN, there are multiple international media channels which have been actively involved in telecasting news related to such conflicts. The major goal of international media is not only to cover such incidents taking place across the globe but also to derive solutions so that such conflicts can be totally eliminated from the system. It serves as an agent in the entire procedure, where it tries to transmit the required information to audience and even effect the formulation of national policies. The conflicts that arise around the world are a common phenomenon and to certain extent cultural factors greatly affect such rebellious movement. Since Cold war ended the level of conflicts had increased instead of decreasing but emergence of media has extended required support which was not observed in earlier years. It is a tool that serves for humanity and reveals the truth which may be hidden underneath all conflicting issues. As a technology based platform this has extended necessary support to many nations and even tried to establish good relationship between developing and developed nations. Apart from all these factors the consequence of role of global media is also witnessed in cultural representations as it tries to outline the different characteristic of cultures and its significant impact on the society as a whole. References Bahador, B. (2007). The CNN Effect in Action: How the News Media Pushed the West toward War in Kosovo. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Barnett, M.C. (2005). Humanitarianism Transformed. Perspectives on Politics, 3(4), pp. 723-740. Bennett, L.W. (2000). Toward a Theory of Press-State Relations in the United States. Journal of Communication, 40(2), pp. 103-25. David, M., & Rizwaan, S. (2011). Propaganda and Terrorism in Media and Terrorism: Global Perspectives. 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