NHMC BLOG: The Power of the Media in Fostering Hate

By: Inez Gonzalez, Executive Vice President

In the early 1990s, local media played a central role in the Rwanda genocide that aimed to get rid of the Tutsi, a minority ethnic group in the country. Between 500,000 to a million people were killed in Rwanda – a country of only seven million people. Before the genocide began, state-owned local print and radio stations promoted anti-Tutsi hate speech that became not only acceptable but the norm. Initially, the hate speech focused on demonizing the Tutsi. By 1994, the hate speech had escalated to the point of directly inciting violence and murder. What happened in Rwanda is an anomaly that now serves as an international reminder of how media can be used to harm society.... Click here to read more.