CNn (Cable News Network)

The Cable News Network (CNN), a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is a major global news network that delivers 24-hour news around the world via satellite and cable television outlets. Founded in June 1980 by Ted Turner, the network currently has 24 networks and services, including CNN Headline News, CNN/U.S., CNN International, and http://CNN.com.

CNN dominates international news coverage thanks to a series of dramatic events that occurred in the postcold war era, such as the Rwanda genocide in 1994 that killed almost 1 million people, the Chinese government's crackdown on prodemocracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, the collapse of East Germany's Communist regime with the Berlin Wall, and the subsequent fall of the Soviet Union.

However, it was with the first live war in the Persian Gulf that CNN emerged as a major global actor in international relations as well as global news coverage. Though the government warned American correspondents to get out of Baghdad, CNN aired the voices of three correspondents, Peter Arnett, John Holliman, and Bernard Shaw, from a Baghdad hotel as they described the sights and sounds of the missile and bomber attacks. Its successful coverage inspired other news networks and agencies to challenge the dominance of the big three American television networks (at that time, CBS, NBC, ABC). For example, in January 1995, BBC launched BBC World, a 24-hour international news channel. In 1996, Al Jazeera, financed by the state of Qatar, was started as the independent Arab news channel and has quickly become the most widely watched television network in the Arab world.

Interestingly, the term “CNN Effect” was coined in an anecdotal story that appeared in The New York[Page 115]Times regarding the impact of CNN's coverage of the Persian Gulf War on the lodging industry. Some scholars have extended the meaning of the CNN Effect, suggesting that the coverage of CNN and other global news networks has influenced global international relations and policy/decision making. Those who study the “CNN Effect” pay special attention to CNN's compelling images that have evoked emotional outcries. They assume that those images force policymakers to intervene militarily in humanitarian crises. However, it is difficult to verify whether the impact on policymakers' decision-making process can be solely attributed to the coverage from CNN. Some anecdotal stories do lend credence to this theory, however. For instance, George Bush, Sr. said that he learned more from watching CNN than from listening to the C.I.A.

CNN now faces numerous challenges from both domestic and foreign competitors. Indeed, its growth has stalled owing to competition from other cable news channels, especially Fox News, established in 1996 by Rupert Murdoch. The Annual Report on American Journalism in 2006 indicated that Fox News not only has taken viewers from other news channels but also that the network has a more loyal audience that watches for longer periods of time.