The media in Rwanda is guilty of playing a major role as perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. However,we must honour and remember the innocent journalists who perished during the mass killings.
The genocide of Rwanda has shattered the world’s perception on Rwanda’s media ethics because of the undeniable part they played in leading the country to destruction and virtual standstill. Today, as Rwanda commemorates the lives of the people we lost in 1994, we especially pay tribute to our fallen comrades, who were killed in just the same way as the other million Tutsi and moderate Hutu victims.
We all have either heard, read or even experienced the atrocious acts of 1994 by the interahamwe extremists who rampaged the country savagely slaughtering and torturing Tutsis and their sympathisers. As the world remained silent, our nation was screaming out from both sides of the massacre, the screams of the people who were being killed, such as the 70 innocent Tutsi journalists, and those of the perpetrators who were screaming out for the blood of the Tutsis to be spilled.
The media in Rwanda had not only incited the violence but encouraged it by sending hate messages over the radio and TV stations such as radio the Rwanda and Radio- Television Libre de Mille Collines, which would broadcast messages of accusation, demonisation and dehumanisation, becoming the main apparatus of the genocide, creating a false and unjust image that anyone affiliated with the media were involved and guilty.
Today, the Media High Council which is an autonomous body regulating the press in Rwanda, has a whole new code of journalistic and media ethics, that aims at promoting and upholding a true and free flow of information. This is a promise that should lead any country towards true democracy and development. The first acts of such promise began with what seems to be the release of the names of the 70 Tutsis who were working as journalists at the time of the genocide. The release of the list has helped shed some truth that not ‘all’ persons who were working for the media then were Hutu, nor working for or towards the hate propaganda that was otherwise the media’s main occupation.
Not only is the MHC busy cleaning up the image of the Rwandan media’s integrity in the eyes of the world but at home as well. One of these benevolent acts is honouring the victims as well as the families of the innocent journalists who were brutally killed in the genocide. Patrice Mulama, the Media’s High Council Executive secretary, said the MHC would help the families of these fallen journalists, which lies under the regulatory body’s social responsibility programme.
Frances Ndoli a reporter for the New Times quoted Patrice Mulama in an article written on the 12 March, 2011 saying “”We want to come up with something in conjunction with other media organisations as we identify the families which are mostly in need of support, We will collaborate with the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide and IBUKA, to agree on what to provide ; it could be shelter or something else’.
These journalists, whose honourable work has been besmirched by the ghosts of a terrible past, should be remembered as a beacon of truth. They area also a reminder that not all honour and proper journalistic code was lost during the genocide and write. On the behalf of our fallen comrades, whose names are written below, may their souls rest in eternal peace.
Media houses and names of Journalists
ORINFOR 1 RUBWIRIZA Tharcisse
2 MWUMVANEZA Médard
3 GASANA Cyprien
4 KARAKE Claver
5 KARAMBIZI Gracien
6 KARINDA Viateur
7 RUDAHANGARWA J. Baptiste
8 SEBANANI André
9 KALISA Callixte
10 NSABIMANA Emmanuel
11 BUCYANA Jean Bosco
12 MBUNDA Felix
13 MUNYARIGOGA Jean Claude
14 NSHIMIYIRYO Eudes
LE PARTISANT 15 HABINEZA Aphrodice (SIBO)
LE TRIBUN DU PEUPLE 16 MUKAMA Eugène
17 HATEGEKIMANA Wilson
18 GAKWAYA Eugène
19 RUGAJU Jean Claude
LE FLAMBEAU 20 BAZIMAZIKI Obed
21 KARINGANIRE Charles
22 MUNANA Gilbert
23 RAFIKI KAYIHURA Octave
24 NTAGANZWA Alexis
25 KINYAMATEKA NKUBIRI Sylvestre
26 MUGANZA Clement
27 KAYINAMURA M.Beduwa
28 SERUVUMBA Anastase
29 LE SOLEIL KAYIRANGA Marcelin
30 MUKAMUSONI Jeanne d’Arc
31 BURASA Prisca
32 ISIBOMURERAMANZI Néhémie
33 KANYARWANDA NKUNDIMANA Joel
34 MUTESA Donat
35KANGUKA RWABUKWISI Vincent (RAVI)
36 MBARAGA Wellars
37 KIBERINKASHABAKAKA Vincent
38 NYIMBUZI Aloys
39 KAMANAYO Théotime
RWANDA RUSHYA 40 KAMURASE Martin
41 MUDATSIKIRA Joseph
42 KAMEYA André
43 L’OBSERVATEURMUNYAKAZI Bernard
44 Free lancers MBUGUJE Sixbert
45 MUKAMANA Winifred
46 RUKUNDO Emmanuel
47 RUTSINDURA Emmanuel
48 RUTSINDURA Alphonse
49 RWEMARIKA Claude
50 TWAGIRAMUNGU Felix
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