Court Finds Rwanda Media Executives Guilty of Genocide

[Gimel]

ARUSHA, Tanzania Dec. 3 - In the first verdict of its kind since the Nuremberg trials, an international court today convicted three Rwandan news media executives of genocide for helping to incite a killing spree by machete-wielding gangs who slaughtered about 800,000 Tutsis in neighboring Rwanda in early 1994.


A three judge panel found that the three defendants used a radio station and a twice-monthly newspaper to inflame ethnic hatred that eventually led to massacres at churches, schools, hospitals and roadblocks. The radio station, dubbed Radio Machete in Rwanda, guided killers to specific victims, broadcasting the names, license plate numbers and hiding places of Tutsis.

The Rwanda genocide is considered the worst ethnic killing since the Holocaust. In 100 days, an estimated 10 percent of the Tutsis in Rwanda were wiped out, along with many moderates among the Hutus, who make up the majority of the population....

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/03/international/africa/03CND-RWAN.html?hp

[el_gato]

1. now if we can just convict the u.s. media

[Gimel]

2. Exactly

This may set a precedent for things to come.

[ermoore]

3. Not just the media . . .

The US media might have (ok, it did) ignored Rwanda's plight, but it's not alone. (European media is also guilty.)

The Clinton administration knew what was going on and chose to pretend otherwise, as did several other governments, particulary the French who, if anything, actively aided Hutu Power. This is disgusting all around. I could forgive the media if they'd just pay a bit more attention to what's going on there now and called for some of these murderers to be brought to justice.

[ithacan]

4. next up: Fox News executives

if hate radio is a crime, then hate-TV should be right up there.

Fox is guilty of inflaming hatred against foreigners, especially Muslims and Arabs, and of pushing its viewers into supporting a disastrous war...