In 1994 Rwanda, some journalists used their power for evil when government-run media houses perpetrated genocide through what scholars termed “hate media.”
The country came into international prominence when the country suffered a devastating genocide from April to July 1994. Genocide, which means the intentional destruction of a specific group, is an important subject of state crimes. The Rwandan version of it was a mass slaughter of Tutsi, Twa, and moderate Hutu in Rwanda, during the Rwandan Civil War. In 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group composed of Tutsi refugees, invaded northern Rwanda from their base in Uganda, initiating the Rwandan Civil War.
Meanwhile, mental health in Rwanda has been deeply impacted by the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, in which approximately one million people were killed, 250 000 women were raped, and millions of Rwandans were displaced. The challenges that independent press and journalism face seem far removed from the atrocities that once occurred during those one hundred days in Rwanda.
Twenty six years after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the country of Rwanda continues to struggle to realize successful strategies for national development. Development journalism is a widely practiced media model that implements theories of communication for development.
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After the Rwandan genocide journalism had to start all over
Journalism demands detachment and objectivity that allows for dissent, disagreement and freedom of expression. After the genocide, Rwandan society had to be entirely rebuilt and the media was no exception.
Rwanda’s journalism usually does not progress beyond superficial descriptions of events and issues. News organizations provide their readers with a gist of Rwandan life, but keep the complex issues and happenings in the country a secret that can only be lived to learn not read about.
In Rwanda foreign journalists are authorized to exercise their profession. Before exercising the profession of journalism, foreign journalists on a professional mission to Rwanda shall file an authorization request to the Media High Council, which issues an appropriate card for that purpose.
It is very clear that today’s media industry in Rwanda has expanded beyond traditional print and broadcast journalism. It includes professional bloggers and vloggers, freelance writers and editors, podcasters, people working in entertainment TV, radio, or film, creators of video games and interactive apps, promoters of ideas and products, and many others just has any other African country.
However, Rwanda’s media landscape has changed dramatically and the country has seen tremendous social and economic progress. Recently, the country’s media practitioners are set to have free legal representation when faced with lawsuits concerning their work, according to a deal signed on June 25, 2020 between the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) and the Legal Aid Forum (LAF).
Decriminalisation of defamation in 2018
Years before the new deal, Rwanda’s progress towards a more liberal media environment has been short-lived. The legal problems that affected journalists led to defamation and issues over privacy, and accuracy of information.
Most significantly, in addition to legal impediments to free expression, Rwandan journalists are strongly inclined to self-censor to avoid creating conflict or fear amongst the general public or falling afoul of government restrictions.
Rwanda has officially decriminalised general defamation and press offences with the gazetting of the penal code that was officially published in August 2018.
In April 2019, there was widespread jubilation when Rwandan President Paul Kagame came out to assert that although he respected the ruling, he did not agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to maintain Article 236 of the Penal Code.
Article 236 says: “Any person who insults or defames the President of the Republic, commits an offense”.
After the ruling, the presidency issued a statement saying in part that: “The President…respects the independence of the judiciary and the recent Supreme Court decision to decriminalise the offences related to humiliation of public officials…,” but that “The President…takes issue with the decision to retain as criminal offences, insults or defamation against the Head of State, who is also a public official”.
Rwanda’s journalism has, time and again, decried the lack of support – usually financial – from the government. Similarly, complaints against government interference in the affairs of the media are often cited.
Conversely, it has to be an absurd irony that the media wants to be independent of the very government that it seeks empowerment from. More absurd is that the media is ready to define such financial support as mere “cooperation” when it is unwilling to cooperate on how media independence should be defined.
It is not out of principle, therefore, that the media in Rwanda rejects cooperation and chooses the path of confrontation that camouflages political opposition as journalism, especially when it comes with a willingness to sacrifice relevance and the resources that come from it.
However, others believe that Rwanda has made impressive social and economic developments, including in its media sector: press freedom is inscribed in Rwanda’s constitution, Rwandan universities offer formal journalism studies, and there are now dozens of media outlets, both public and private.
Some experts opined that capacity and professional knowledge is a challenge among journalists and media houses in Rwanda. Teaching and practicing journalism under these conditions is particularly problematic because of the dynamic changes being experienced across the media industries as a result of technological change and the changing media ecosystem.
Nonetheless, media and journalism are important to the economic, social, political, and cultural lives of nations. Some governments have attempted to control the content of news and the messages transmitted in the media.
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