CNN Effect

The CNN effect is a theory that 24-hour news networks, such as CNN, influence the general political and economic climate. Because media outlets provide ongoing coverage of a particular event or subject matter, the attention of viewers is narrowly focused for potentially prolonged periods of time. The CNN effect can therefore cause individuals and organizations to react more aggressively towards the subject matter being examined. For example, regular coverage of turmoil in the banking sector may result in investors withdrawing from bank stocks or even moving their deposits out of banks being mentioned. This in turn would heighten the turmoil. 

The effect that media outlets have on consumer behavior has been examined since the CNN effect came to prominence during the 1980s. For example, by focusing on natural disasters, news outlets may influence consumers and investors to react more drastically to what is unfolding. While this can be viewed as a criticism, media outlets also shed light on the inner workings of governments and businesses, which may increase accountability.

The CNN effect is really about the speed at which cable news was able to spread information and how that news seemingly made events far away matter to people that otherwise would not have noticed. Well informed people prior to cable news would still experience a delay in information as a news story from Asia, for example, took time to appear in the newspaper. This information lag actually helped to prevent stock panics based on international events as there was every reason to believe that the situation had changed since the column was written. Cable news came along and offered near real-time footage and further compounded this rapid reporting with a large dose of sensationalism. Now a typhoon in Asia could be seen making landfall and North American would react more rapidly to the fears of floods or the perceived severity of power outages and the impact on companies in the region. 

However, as fast as cable news is, it has been overtaken by social media. Now cable news channels spend time monitoring the same social media channels that regular people follow because there is a torrent of real time data from all over the world. The CNN effect - the theory that real time information and prolonged focus on a particular event has a market impact - is still valid, but it may now be accurate to rename it the Twitter effect rather than tying it back to a cable news channel. Increasingly, we are in a world of cord-cutters, so cable news is far from the dominant medium.