During 1994 an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed in the Rwandan genocide. Therole of radio broadcasts across the country in inspiring and encourag-ing individual and collective acts of violence has become one of the best-documented and most extreme cases of the use of media to fuel conflict.After being indicted in 1996 by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the trials of reporters allegedly central tothe hate broadcasts began in 2001. Radio Netherlands reporters have kept a close eye on developments.
Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) is the most recent and widely reported symbol of "hate radio" throughout the world. Its broadcasts, disseminating hate propaganda and inciting the murder of Tutsis and opponents to the regime, began on 8 July 1993, and greatly contributed to the 1994 genocide of hundreds of thousands.
RTLM, aided by the staff and facilitiesof Radio Rwanda, the government-owned station, called on the Hutu majority todestroy the Tutsi minority. The…
