The CNN Effect in Action How the News Media Pushed the West toward War in Kosovo

"Intellectually bracing - often arresting - Bahador makes the powerful case that the CNN effect is much more significant than we think: it helped precipitate a war. A wonderfully concise introduction to the role global media now plays in shaping public perceptions and reshaping political environments, whether the public or the politicians are always aware of it or not." - Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science"Emotion, death, honor, revenge, revulsion, anger, disgust: these are all the messy emotions of war and, at times, foreign policymaking. Babak Bahador does a brilliant job describing how and when ghosts of the dead call leaders into action, and in the process give pause to political counselors...In reconstructing this history and putting it in a sound theoretical context, Bahador has made an important contribution to the CNN effect literature." - Steve L. Livingston,Professor of Media and Public Affairs, The George Washington University