JOHANNESBURG LAUNCH: Media and Mass Atrocity

SA Institute Of International Affairs, Wits University, Braamfontein, GP B-2000, Johannesburg
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Join Allan Thompson for the launch of his new book, Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond. The launch will be held in the SA Institute Of International Affairs, Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa.

ABOUT THE BOOK

It has been twenty-five years since Rwanda slid into the abyss. The killings happened in broad daylight, but many of us turned away. A quarter century later, there is still much to learn about the relationship between the media and genocide, an issue laid bare by the Rwanda tragedy. Media and Mass Atrocity revisits the debate over the role of traditional news media in Rwanda, where, confronted by the horrors taking place, international news media, for the most part, turned away, and at times muddled the story when they did pay attention. Hate-media outlets in Rwanda played a role in laying the groundwork for genocide, and then actively encouraged the extermination campaign. The news media not only failed to fully grasp and communicate the genocide, but mostly overlooked the war crimes committed during the genocide and in its aftermath by the Rwandan Patriotic Front.

Allan Thompson is senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and associate professor at Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communications.