The University of Reading

US Foreign and Defence Policy

How far, if at all, do the media and public opinion influence

US foreign and defence policy?

Submitted by Carina N. Siegmund

23 March 2007

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Outline

1. Introduction

2.

a. Role of the media in politics

b. Freedom of the media

c. Media acting in different ways

i. accelerant

ii. impediment

iii. agenda-setting agency

d. Soft news v hard news

e. Diplomacy

f. CNN Effect

i. Somalia and Rwanda

ii. The media in times of war

1. First Amendment v Live Coverage

2. Reliability of the media

iii. Crises

3. Conclusion

4. Bibliography

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How far, if at all, do the media and public opinion influence

US foreign and defence policy?

In the United States of America the media is protected by the First

Amendment to the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law [...] abridging

the freedom of speech or of the press."1 The media are institutions whose

primary concern it is to produce and distribute all forms of knowledge,

information and entertainment2 and encompass print media, television,

radio and the internet. For the purposes of this paper, the focus shall be on

television, as "television is undoubtedly the pre-eminent form of the media in

the United States"3 and it is the medium of choice for Americans looking for

information.4 In a democracy such as the United States of America, the

media ought to report impartially and in a way to inform and engage the

public.5 Public opinion is understood as a collective view of a given issue.

Foreign policy shall be defined as the goals a state wants to attain abroad,

the values that determine to those objectives, and the means or instruments

used to pursue them.6

In the past four decades there has been a debate about the link between the

media and foreign policy. This first came about with the first televised war in

Vietnam and has recently become more significant with the American

involvement in Somalia allegedly as a result of the so-called "CNN Effect" and

the technological advances enabling live coverage. Since the Vietnam War

there has been a fervent debate between the media and the military

regarding media coverage of combat activities. This paper will argue that the

American media influence and create public opinion through the information

broadcasted. It will be argued that the media do not have as big a role in

influencing foreign policy as has been thought in the past and that the CNN

Effect has been overrated. The essay will examine the relationship between

media and the government as well as between media and the military to

1 First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

2 Thomas, Graham. (2004, March).

Political Communication: The Media and Politics in Britain.

[Lecture]. The

University of Reading, Reading, England.

3 McKeever, Robert and Davies, Philip. (2006).

Politics USA.

Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. p. 132.

4

ibid.

p. 134.

5 Leighley, Jan E. (2004).

Mass Media and Politics A Social Science Perspective.

Boston & New York:

Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 247.

6 Wittkopf, Eugene R. et al. (2003).

American Foreign Policy.

Belmont: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. p. 601.

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examine whether or not the media may at times have to be restricted in the

interest of operational security.

Traditionally the media′s purpose has been to act as a watchdog, challenging

the government and its policies.7 The watchdog puts in place checks and

balances, so that the public has a way of controlling the government. The

communications industry acts as a linking institution between the electorate

and the government and as such transmits information both ways. The

media is therefore an important factor in feeding America′s values, beliefs,

and preferences into the foreign policy making process, and as such is

understood to be in a position of influence on the formation of US foreign

policy.8

It is widely believed that the media not only reflects public opinion but

creates it. While it is certainly true that the media has an impact on public

opinion, this has more to do with its agenda-setting function and the fact

that the media decides what is important, and therefore transmitted as

news. It can thus be argued that the media does not tell the public what to

think, but rather "what to think about".9 The media frames issues as it sees

fit, and it can be assumed that the way a story is framed determines public

opinion. The media has three major roles with regard to its influence on US

foreign and defence policy. Firstly, the media may act as an accelerant,

namely shortening the response time for decision making.10 A frequently

cited example highlights the difference in reaction time for President John F.

Kennedy when he made a public statement about the construction of the

Berlin Wall eight days later, and the almost instantaneous statement

expected from President George Bush as the wall fell in 1989.11 Live coverage

has often been criticised as forcing policymakers to make rushed decisions

under pressure, which may not be as thought through as they could have

been if there had been more time for analysis and reflection. As Theodore H.

White has put it, "the protective filter of time" has been removed.12 It has yet

7 Wittkopf, Eugene R. et al. (2003).

American Foreign Policy.

Belmont: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. p. 301.

8

ibid.

9

ibid.

p. 302.

10 Norris, Pippa. (Ed). (1997).

Politics and the Press.

London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. p. 294.

11 Seib, Philip. (1997).

Headline Diplomacy.

Westport: Praeger Publishers. p. 105.

12

ibid.

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