Media: Hearts, Minds and Satellites

During the year 2000, “CNN's competitors -- most notably the Fox News Channel -- stole its thunder as it lost market share, mind share and direction. Its glory days in the Persian Gulf War had become a distant memory, and members of its staff, cut by 400 people just a few months ago, walked with heads hung low.” (Media: Hearts, Minds and Satellites) The coverage of Sep. 11th no wonder brought hope to its possibility of winning back its previous glory. It “engaged in a kind of geopolitics that its competitors have tried to use against it in times of war, questioning its ethics and implying that it is willing to cozy up to regimes at odds with the United States just to win a competitive advantage.” However, on a second thought, aren’t all media group living in a dog-use-dog world? CNN singed contract with Al Jazeera to get access to information; Fox--“most notably an invitation to battle CNN on a new front, internationally”, created an international news presence where it had none by hiring a CNN correspondent who was stationed in Afghanistan after Sept. 11 without a contract. Meanwhile, “it has at the same time made itself available to dozens of new cable and satellite systems worldwide, for free.” Even more interesting, we can see great similarity between Al Jazeera and Fox despite the basic difference in stance. They are both good at manipulating conflict, arousing emotions, such as fear among audience and propaganda rhetoric. They both play their chessman conservatively, passionately and successfully. In a nutshell, they recall audience’s mindset to extremes on their specific direction.