IntroductionThe globalization of the media has broken down communication barriers between countries and is now more easily available and accessible than ever. This article examines how the media plays an active role in influencing our opinion on global politics in relation to the Arab Spring and the new revolution making its way across the Middle East and North Africa. It will also examine the CNN effect and manufacturing consensus theories and how these define the relationship between governments and the news media. US involvement with the Hollywood industry raises concerns about this relationship and highlights the importance of recognizing the role of the media in global politics. Media today has made great strides in terms of technological advancements since the beginning of the 20th century. Globalization has led to the breaking down of communication barriers between nation states and it is now possible to access the media all over the world; giving visibility to war events, economic, political and humanitarian conflicts. This in turn will lead to greater awareness of the humanitarian crisis in places like the Middle East. It has only been in the last two decades that “new” media has taken the world of media even further. The term “new” means facilitating information sharing, one of the components of effective resistance; those in countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to show the rest of the world what the news media can't do. This type of media represented the beginning of an information revolution and a change in the nature of conflict by strengthening networked forms of organization compared to hierarchical forms. Activists in Tunisia who were... at the heart of the paper... of foreign policy." Eurpoean Journal of Communication16, no4 (2001):523-544, http://ics-www.leeds.ac.uk/papers/ pmt/exhibits/1848/robinson2.pdf (accessed April 16, 2012) Entman, Robert. “Symposium Defining US Coverage of International News: Contrasts in Narratives of KAL and Iranian Air Crashes.” 1991): 6, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1991.tb02328.x/abstract;jsessionid=1ED043007C2287AA69B7A3A2DD869C27.d01t02 (accessed 16 April 2012 ) Robinson, The CNN Effect, 304Ibid,. 304 Lacey, Anita. “How do we find out what's going on in the world?” Lecture, POLITICS 106, University of Auckland, 26 March 2012. Castonguay, James. “Conglomeration, new media and the cultural production of the “war on terrorism”. Cinema Journal 43, no4 (2004):102-108, Ibd, ID,. 102+