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Limited news coverage of major genocides and crimes against humanity prior to the second half of the twentieth century allowed those events to continue outside the glare of public scrutiny that has become possible. The advent of modern television news networks allows for rapid, even instantaneous visual reporting of international crises. Television news coverage of genocide and crimes against humanity can thus inform and shape world opinion, eliciting responses to such atrocities.

The CNN Effect

Television news coverage plays a critical role in ensuring that the global public is informed about international events. It is, in fact, the preferred means by which the majority of the Western public receives its news. The existence of Cable News Network (CNN) and other global television news networks dedicated to instantaneous coverage means that concerned nongovernmental groups and the public at large are often exposed to international news events at the same time as governments. This exposure to international news allows the public to formulate opinions and influence government policy. The broad international reach and the speed of modern television news coverage thereby create pressure on governments to respond quickly to international crises. This phenomenon whereby aggressive television news coverage of live events indirectly shapes the course of those events is known as the CNN Effect or the CNN Factor.

Television news coverage of genocide and crimes against humanity has the potential to limit the extent and severity of those incidents by motivating timely action and resource allocation by governments and nongovernmental groups like relief agencies. Such coverage may even help to prevent future occurrences; an informed public can encourage governments to monitor potential international crises and take preventative action when necessary.

Factors in Television Reporting

The television news media is also a business, and as such is limited by practical considerations. News stories themselves are limited in scope; in a given news segment, each story tends to last no more than one to three minutes. Likewise, the news media's attention to any one event is limited in duration, with sustained coverage rarely lasting longer than a period of a few weeks. The television news media generally only cover one such major event at a time, meaning that while one important international crisis may get the attention it deserves, other crises may go under- or unreported. Moreover, the complicated logistics of reporting from remote, undeveloped locations make certain events of humanitarian concern inaccessible to the media and therefore unavailable to the public.

Profit considerations similarly influence news coverage. The television news media tend to seek out sensational stories—which are most often highly negative—because those stories gather viewers. The global public has demonstrated a tendency toward voyeurism; that is, the public is more interested in seeing exceptional, negative news than in seeing ordinary and/or positive news.

Distortion and Manipulation

The television news media's proclivity to report the sensational can lead the public in developed countries to harbor incomplete and erroneous opinions about the developing world. These misconceptions can lead to frustration and a belief that the situations in the developing world are hopeless and beyond the reach of international aid or intervention. Thus, just as the television media may promote action by news coverage of international crises, the prolonged focus on such negative events may eventually lead to a decline in timely response—or any response—to similar occurrences. This phenomenon is commonly known as "compassion fatigue."

In addition to the editorial and practical decisions made at the studio and executive news media levels, decisions made by reporters in the field may also influence the global public's knowledge of humanitarian crises. For example, the television news media may often provide the global public with unintentional but ignorant misinformation. Coverage of crisis events may be based primarily upon secondary rather than primary accounts of the situation, and the coverage may lack a basic foundation or recognition of the history and context of the situation, thus likely misinforming the public about those events.

Similarly, television reporting of international crises can distort the public's perception of the crises through the camera eye itself. That is, the way a camera shot is framed or angled, in addition to the editing of shots after they are taken, can misrepresent reality. For example, a camera may portray a shot of a well-armed soldier looming in the foreground over the dead body of a child. What the camera eye may not show is that in reality the soldier is standing fearful, surrounded by a large and angry mob of armed youths. The reaction of the public to crisis situations can thus be significantly affected by the distorted picture of reality that the media may intentionally or unintentionally present.

Furthermore, television can also be manipulated in closed societies to intentionally misinform the public. Governments can use the television news media to disseminate propaganda, encourage stereotypes, and incite hatred and violence against certain religious, ethnic, or political groups (just as radio was used during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994).

Television news coverage of genocide and crimes against humanity may also affect victims of the events. If journalists are not sensitive to the trauma of victims, and are instead imprudent in their investigation and reporting, victims may easily be re-traumatized. On the other hand, thoughtful inquiry and reporting may be quite valuable: Victims often welcome a chance to tell their stories and explain what happened to them; in doing so, the public learns more about the effects of genocide and crimes against humanity on individuals and groups directly affected by those events.

The television news media can be a powerful force in informing and shaping world opinion, and in eliciting responses to international humanitarian crises. While the importance of the CNN effect cannot be understated, the global public should be aware of the limitations that do exist in television news media coverage. By recognizing the practical and editorial decisions behind the images on the TV screen—and by seeking knowledge of international crisis situations through additional sources—the global public will have a fuller, more accurate opinion of world events. Such a better informed public will be more capable of encouraging appropriate and timely responses to threats of genocide or crimes against humanity.

SEE ALSO Film as Propaganda; Films, Dramatizations in; Films, Holocaust Documentary; Photography of Victims; Propaganda; Radio

Kelly Helen Fry