Allan Thompson (Ed.)

2007

According to authors in this collection of essays, the news media played a crucial role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide: local media fuelled the killings, while the international media either ignored or seriously misconstrued what was happening. This book, which is the result of a symposium hosted by the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University in Ottawa, explores both sides of that media equation. Published through the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and from their description: "The book examines how local radio and print media were used as a tool of hate, encouraging neighbours to turn against each other. It also presents a critique of international media coverage of the cataclysmic events in Rwanda. Bringing together local reporters and commentators from Rwanda, high-profile Western journalists, and leading media theorists, this... book...identif[ies] and
probe[s] the extent of the media’s accountability. It also examines deliberations by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on the role of the media in the genocide."

As detailed by the editor: "The collection... explores the role of hate media in the Rwanda genocide and examines international media coverage of the genocide. Then it turns to an assessment of the guilty verdict in the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda's 'Media Trial' and finally concludes with a section on the aftermath, examining the current media climate in Rwanda, media intervention strategies and the place of the Rwanda genocide in popular culture."

The following works are included in the book:

• Statement - Kofi Annan;
• Preface and introduction - Allan Thompson;
• The media dichotomy - Roméo Dallaire;
• Rwanda: walking the road to genocide - Gerald Caplan;
• Call to genocide: radio in Rwanda, 1994 - Alison Des Forges;
• RTLM propaganda: the democratic alibi - Jean-Pierre Chrétien;
• Kangura: the triumph of propaganda refined - Marcel Kabanda;
• Rwandan private print media on the eve of the genocide - Jean-Marie Vianney Higiro;
• Echoes of violence: considerations on radio and genocide in Rwanda - Darryl Li;
• RTLM: the Medium that Became a Tool for Mass Murder - Mary Kimani;
• The effect of RTLM’s rhetoric of ethnic hatred in rural Rwanda - Charles Mironko;
• Journalism in a Time of Hate Media - Thomas Kamilindi;
• Reporting the genocide - Mark Doyle;
• Who failed in Rwanda, journalists or the media? - Anne Chaon;
• Reporting Rwanda: the media and the aid agencies -Lindsey Hilsum;
• Limited vision: how both the American media and government failed Rwanda - Steven Livingston;
• Missing the story: the media and the Rwandan genocide - Linda Melvern;
• What did they say? African media coverage of the first 100 days of the Rwandan crisis - Emmanuel C. Alozie;
• Exhibit 467: genocide through a camera lens - Nick Hughes;
• Media failure over Rwanda’s genocide - Tom Giles;
• A genocide without images: white film noirs - Edgar Roskis;
• Notes on Circumstances that Facilitate Genocide: the Attention Given to Rwanda by the Media and Others Outside Rwanda Before 1990 - Mike Dottridge;
• How the media missed Rwandan genocide - Alan J. Kuperman;
• An analysis of news magazine coverage of the Rwanda crisis in the United States - Melissa Wall;
• The verdict: summary judgement from the Media Trial;
• The pre-genocide case against Radio-Télévision Libre des Milles Collines - Simone Monasebian;
• The challenges in prosecuting print media for incitement to genocide - Charity Kagwi-Ndungu;
• "Hate media” - crimes against humanity and genocide: opportunities missed by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda - Jean-Marie Biju-Duval;
• A lost opportunity for justice: why did the ICTR not prosecute gender propaganda? - Binaifer Nowrojee;
• Intervening to prevent genocidal violence: the role of the media - Frank Chalk;
• Information in crisis areas as a tool for peace: the Hirondelle experience - Philippe Dahinden;
• The use and abuse of media in vulnerable societies - Mark Frohardt and Jonathan Temin;
• Censorship and propaganda in post-genocide Rwanda - Lars Waldorf;
• PG - parental guidance or portrayal of genocide: the comparative depiction of mass murder in contemporary cinema - Michael Dorland; and
• The responsibility to report: a new journalistic paradigm - Allan Thompson.

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