The Uses and Abuses of Media

UNPROFOR
Dayton Accords
Snipers Alley
National Library of Bosnia bombed relentlessly
Serb paramilitary forces

A Ride tip of Democracy

Former Yugoslavia was a counterpoint to the jubilation that followed the liberation of the
other East European Communist states
Balkan conflict was the first war truly driven by television
Slobodan Milosevic was built on strategy to control Yugoslavias mass media, he used it
for hatred and war

A Media Creation

Mira (Milosevic wife) conspired with a small group of powerful media bosses to propel
him and to promote their radical Serb Ideology
Politika (largest daily newspaper)
Editor of Politika Ekspres met regularly with Milosevics wife to plot his ascension and
sideline his more moderate opponents
Beginning of May 1987 there were a series of coordinated attacks in Politika
Battle between milosevics hard-line nationalist faction and moderates

In Search of a Grace Serbia

Yugoslavia was a strong federal state under Titos rule

A mosaic of separate nationalities, unified under the same leadership of the Communist
party and the national army
Titos death in 1980, no chosen successor, federal presidency was shared among
representatives of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and the other republics
When Ottoman Turk armies defeated the Serbs it drew 1500 army protesters demanding
an end to Kosovos special status as an autonomous province
Nationalism replaced communism
Summer of 1990 demands for freedom in the democratization competed with the forces
of resurgent nationalism
 In June Serbia held a referendum on a new constitution
The referendum passed, milosevics powers as Serbia's president actually increased under
the new constitution
UltanationalistFrijoTudjmanand the HDZ (Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica) or HDZ
HDZs Victory raised the fear that Tudjman would resurrect the old Ustase regime
March 9th 1991 the decisive moment when War became inevitable

A Media War

August 1st the war of the transmitters

Each side's propaganda fed the mass psychology of hatred
A few weeks of aerial bombardment proved sufficient to bring the parties together in
November 1995 in Dayton, Ohio

War crimes on trial

On December 9th 1948 the UN Security Council established the international criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Where war crimes in the Balkans were inflamed by media in Rwanda hate media became
the organization tool for genocide

Radio Genocide
Rwanda had been ruled by a hereditary Tutsi monarchy
Shared a common language and culture
Schools, churches, work space, and often intermarried
October 1 1990 tutsi refugees living in uganda formed a rebel army
United nations sent in a small peacekeeping force (UNAMIR)

Broadcasting Hatred

RTML begin broadcasting highly inflammatory messages against the Tutsis and the
moderate politicians who supported a peace settlement
Hutu extremists began organizing a Hutu Power movement with the support from
juvenal Habyarimana
CNN effect comes into play
Rwandas minister of information tried to reign in RTML, but the station had grown
beyond the law, he was one of the first people killed in the slaughter to follow

One Hundred Days of Hell

 President's plane is shot down on april 6, then the killings begin
Attempt to exterminate the minority Tutsi and moderate Hutu populations

Failure to Respond

Many explanations for the failure of the international press

long -term decline of foreign news coverage
This time there would not be any CNN effect come into play
Safe Zone in Operation Turquoise toward the end of the genocide

A Power to Heal

Paul kagame, led the victorious RPF army that ended the Rwandan holocaust
UNs International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) got started in 1997
Internews was the only organization prepared to videotape the proceedings
Each month 20,000 people watched the documentaries

The Way Forward

Rwanda is an extreme example of the danger of local media falling into the hands of a
single sectarian faction
Media also have a vital role to play in post-conflict reconstruction and the rebuilding of
civil society