Technologies of representation: How different ways of representing war may influence public opinion

Critics on the left and right make two popular claims about television news coverage of war. One, that television manipulates the public to favor war by hiding war's violence. (Nintendo War). Two, that television begins by manipulating public opinion in favor of force to help protect suffering people, and later manipulates opinion towards withdrawing, to protect local civilians and U.S. troops (CNN Effect). This project: (1) Explains why opinion could be manipulated in the way that either side claims, depending on visual content. Empathy research shows that viewers tend to copy the emotions other people express in front of them. The presence or absence of an empathy reaction, and whom the reaction is towards, modify viewer opinion. (2) Explains why television reporters and editors create manipulative representations. Imperatives imposed by (a) increasing speed in society, and (b) the rhetorical character of any stereotypical images amenable to quick creation and display by a profit-driven network, structure television news so that it must be manipulative. (3) Suggests three types of war television coverage (simulation, victims, beneficiaries) each having specific visual characteristics and theorized effects on opinion. It codes ABC coverage, from the Gulf War and Somalia intervention. This method could be used to test claims that certain types of images dominated news coverage. (4) Performs an experiment. Each group saw a different version of a broadcast including one story typical of simulation, one of beneficiaries, and one of victims of coverage. Pre- and post-surveys were given asking the appropriate amount of force to use. The control group saw the program unaltered. The experimental groups each had video blanked out during a different story typical of one of the three types. (5) There was no significant difference between the control and experimental groups on the change in the amount of force respondents thought it appropriate to use after viewing versus before viewing. The stimulus used in this experiment does not have a significant effect. The design didn't permit an answer to the question of whether exposure to coverage exactly as described by CNN Effect or Nintendo War would affect opinion in this way.