Global Television and the Shaping of World Politics: CNN, Telediplomacy, and Foreign Policy - Softcover

Ammon, Royce J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786410620 ISBN 13: 9780786410620

Publisher: McFarland, 2001

Synopsis

In 1995, United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said of the Cable News Network, "CNN is the sixteenth member of the [15 member United Nations] Security Council." Scholars as well as diplomats have recognized the existence of a link between communications and diplomacy, but up until now the implications of this relationship have been left unexplored. This work examines the historic interconnectedness between communications and diplomacy, how communications have historically determined the practice of diplomacy, and how global television in particular can determine diplomatic outcomes under certain conditions. This work also examines the ways in which today's broadcasting will shape foreign policy processes in the future and the future impact of global television in world politics.

About this title

About the Author:

Royce J. Ammon is the social sciences instructor at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

From Library Journal:

Television coverage of the recent terrorist attacks in the United States and the resulting military actions make this book on the role of global television in shaping world politics very timely. In this revision of his dissertation, Ammon (Univ. of St. Thomas) traces the relationship between diplomacy and communications technology, arguing that changes in communications have historically determined diplomatic practices and their outcomes. Ammon analyzes the CNN coverage of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 to offer one example of the way television influences foreign policy, arguing that Western powers offered humanitarian aid to Iraqi Kurds at the end of the war because their plight was televised. The rebellious Shi'ite Muslims, on the other hand, were forced to flee into the marshlands of southern Iraq, receiving no television coverage and consequently no Western aid. Ammon balances his account by detailing conditions that can weaken the impact of television, which he uses to explain the lack of response to the genocide in Rwanda. This important study will be of special interest to media and international relations scholars. Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ. Lib., Washington, DC
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: McFarland
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0786410620
• ISBN 13: 9780786410620
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 207