The Rwanda media experience from the genocide

Since 19 September 2002, when the present crisis started in Ivory Coast, growing restrictions have been brought on the media, both through government censorship and the threat of mob-violence. Government officials have also publicly blamed the national and international media for stirring up tension in the country, using it as an excuse to curtail media independence.

Owned by political leaders, a lot of media are spreading hate messages targeting different political parties, ethnic groups and religions, methods reminding the Rwanda media before the genocide.

In November 2002, in response to rising concerns for the safety of journalists and the overall degradation of the situation in Ivory Coast, Media Action International (MAI), in collaboration with the International Federation of Journalists, International Media Support (IMS) and Communication Assistance Foundation, organized a seminar near Abidjan entitled “Journalism and conflict” to enable journalists to face the challenges of reporting during conflicts, highlighting basic journalist professional standards and their application during conflict situation. The forty journalists and editors who participated in the seminar expressed the wish to continue to work on the question of ethics to improve relations with their colleagues.

At the beginning of 2003, MAI was asked to implement a second workshop in Ivory Coast addressing the role media are playing in the current crisis and the way media could contribute to a peaceful solution of the conflict in the country.
One way to achieve the objective will be through increasing awareness of the Rwandan media experience during the 1994-genocide and the consequence of partisan-media

With International Media Support and in order to provide pertinent insight to the debate and increase the awareness of the coming workshop’s participants of the Rwanda media experience during the genocide, Rwandan journalist – Ines Mpambara, co-director of the School of Journalism and Communication of Rwanda – will share her first hand experience of a conflict where media played an important role. She will also provide historical evidence of the negative consequences of media activities that promote division, conflict and violence.