ing impact on the Gulf War even led
Pentagon officials to coin the term
the “CNN effect” to describe the im-
pact of the new global media with
twenty-four-hour, real-time news
coverage on U.S. foreign policy de-
cision making.
Further Reading
Allen, Thomas B., F. Clifton Berry,
and Norman Polmar.CNN: War
in the Gulf: From the Invasion of Ku-
wait to the Day of Victor y and Be-
yond. Atlanta: Turner, 1991. A
documentary of CNN’s coverage
of the Iraqi-Kuwait crisis, includ-
ing the 1991 Gulf War.
Arnett, Peter.Live from the Battlefield:
From Vietnam to Bagdad—Thirty-
five Years in the World’s War Zones.
New York: Simon & Schuster,
- Arnett’s memoir detailing
his experiences covering the
Gulf War for CNN as well as his
thirteen years as a Pulitzer Prize-winning Associ-
ated Press reporter covering the Vietnam War in
which he compares the controversy surrounding
his Gulf reporting with the criticism he received
for his reporting during Vietnam.
Wiener, Robert.Live from Baghdad: Making Journal-
ism Histor y Behind the Lines.New York: St. Martin’s
Griffin, 2002. Wiener’s account of the six months
he spent as the CNN executive producer with Pe-
ter Arnett in Baghdad reporting on the Gulf War.
Eddith A. Dashiell
See also Arnett, Peter; Cable television; Foreign
policy of the United States; Gulf War; Gulf War syn-
drome; Journalism; Schwarzkopf, Norman.
Cochran, Johnnie
Identification African American attorney
Born October 2, 1937; Shreveport, Louisiana
Died March 29, 2005; Los Angeles, California
Cochran, an advocate for justice, focused his life’s work on
dismantling the Los Angeles Police Department’s discrimi-
nator y practices, along with its many misuses of power. He
is best known for his work as defense attorney in the trial of
former football great O. J. Simpson.Johnnie Cochran, dubbed the Civil Trial Lawyer of
the Year in 1990, faced challenging courtroom bat-
tles during his career. The early years of this decade
found Cochran representing a white truck driver,
Reginald Denny, who was pulled from his truck and
nearly beaten to death by an angry mob during the
1992 Los Angeles riots, which were sparked when
four Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) offi-
cers were acquitted in the 1991 beating of an African
American man, Rodney King. Cochran argued dis-
crimination because the LAPD failed to protect the
neighborhood, South Central Los Angeles, where
Denny’s beating occurred. Although he did not win
a settlement for his client, he continued his fight
against the LAPD for misapplication of power.
Cochran helped win a record $9.4 million jury ver-
dict for a Latina girl who was molested by an LAPD
officer. Conversely, in 1993, Cochran settled a child
molestation case for pop icon Michael Jackson.
In 1995, Cochran found himself leading the de-
fense team in the trial of O. J. Simpson, who was ac-
cused of murder in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife,
Nicole Brown Simpson, a white woman, and her204 Cochran, Johnnie The Nineties in America
Johnnie Cochran puts on the crime scene gloves to reiterate to the jury in the O. J. Simp-
son murder trial that they did not fit the suspect.(AP/Wide World Photos)