2008 Woodie Awards
Book on Rwanda Genocide causes controversy
By: Brandon Leonard
Issue date: 2/7/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Brandon Leonard
Guest Writer
A group of five international organizations that provide finance and advice on economic development and elimination of poverty hosted a conference in the World Bank Infoshop in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Feb. 1, in support of a new book that critiques the lack of media involvement in the Rwanda Genocide.
The World Bank Group held the conference to announce the release of a new book, The Media and the Rwanda Genocide, edited by Professor Thomas Allen of Carleton University in Ottowa, Can., which discuss the roles of local hate media and international media in the 1994 ethnic cleansing.
The audience was made up of journalists, students and World Bank employees who came to hear a panel made up of Allen, the editor, and three selected contributors to the one-week old book speak. Also, a group of 10 watched and participated from a World Bank office in Kigali, Rwanda, through a video conference feed.
"We cannot overlook the impact of the role played by the international media. No one paid attention. The Western media did not live up to their responsibility," said Allen.
The panel of four media experts and officials said that the absence of coverage by the international media and production of hate media in Rwanda played a decisive role in an estimated one million Tutsi and Hutu deaths over a period of 100 days.
Allen also said that the hate media in Rwanda betrayed the standards of journalism when they were needed the most and that the situation could have been avoided through a constant development of professional journalism.
Former Rwandese radio station manager Thomas Kamilindi, who is currently working on a doctorate researching the history and effects of hate media at the University of Michigan, was another member of the panel. Kamilindi grew up before the 1994 genocide and saw evidences of the hatred that existed long before.
Kamilindi said that the hate media actually began earlier, around 1990, and presented the Tutsis as cruel. In response to building governmental pressure, Kamilindi made the first strike for any radio station in Rwanda because he refused to broadcast anything other than the truth.
Guest Writer
A group of five international organizations that provide finance and advice on economic development and elimination of poverty hosted a conference in the World Bank Infoshop in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Feb. 1, in support of a new book that critiques the lack of media involvement in the Rwanda Genocide.
The World Bank Group held the conference to announce the release of a new book, The Media and the Rwanda Genocide, edited by Professor Thomas Allen of Carleton University in Ottowa, Can., which discuss the roles of local hate media and international media in the 1994 ethnic cleansing.
The audience was made up of journalists, students and World Bank employees who came to hear a panel made up of Allen, the editor, and three selected contributors to the one-week old book speak. Also, a group of 10 watched and participated from a World Bank office in Kigali, Rwanda, through a video conference feed.
"We cannot overlook the impact of the role played by the international media. No one paid attention. The Western media did not live up to their responsibility," said Allen.
The panel of four media experts and officials said that the absence of coverage by the international media and production of hate media in Rwanda played a decisive role in an estimated one million Tutsi and Hutu deaths over a period of 100 days.
Allen also said that the hate media in Rwanda betrayed the standards of journalism when they were needed the most and that the situation could have been avoided through a constant development of professional journalism.
Former Rwandese radio station manager Thomas Kamilindi, who is currently working on a doctorate researching the history and effects of hate media at the University of Michigan, was another member of the panel. Kamilindi grew up before the 1994 genocide and saw evidences of the hatred that existed long before.
Kamilindi said that the hate media actually began earlier, around 1990, and presented the Tutsis as cruel. In response to building governmental pressure, Kamilindi made the first strike for any radio station in Rwanda because he refused to broadcast anything other than the truth.
Be the first to comment on this story