# Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.
- A. J. Liebling
# People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.
- A. J. Liebling
# People who control the message - control knowledge.
- D. F. Silzer
The role of the Hate Media in the tragedy of Rwanda
Things are different in Canada - Section 318: Advocating Genocide
The criminal act of "advocating genocide" is defined as supporting or arguing for the killing of members of an "identifiable group" — persons distinguished by their colour, race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation. The intention or motivation would be the destruction of members of the targeted group. Any person who promotes genocide is guilty of an indictable offence, and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
Months, even years, before the genocide, extremist
newspapers had been stirring up ethnic
hatred and saying war was the only solution. A
dozen publications spouted xenophobic poison
each week and accused the Tutsis of being responsible
for all the societyʼs ills. Kangura magazine,
edited by Hassan Ngeze, was the most
extreme. These papers gradually got people to
believe that killing all Tutsis was the only “viable”
answer to the countryʼs problems.
Radio-télévision libre des mille collines
(RTLM), founded on 8 April 1993, was Rwanda
ʼs only privately-owned radio station on the
eve of the genocide and had worried people
since it began broadcasting. It put out very
extreme propaganda and was also very popular.
Its editorial line became even more radical
after the assassination of Burundian President
Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, in October 1993.
Every day, between April and July 1994, “Radio-
Télé-la-Mort” (as the station was nicknamed)
encouraged, guided and incited government
troops and the Interahamwe militia, even
broadcasting names and addresses of people in
hiding, many of them journalists. The stateowned
Radio Rwanda was handed over to the
Rwandan army on 7 April and over the next
three months many of its staff put out programmes
very similar to those of RTLM.
