In the case of the 1994 genocide in rwanda the news media accomplished neither of voltaires admonitions confronted by rwandas horrors western news media for the most part turned away then muddled the story when they did pay attention and hate media organs in rwanda through their journalists broadcasters and media executives played an instrumental role in laying the . The news media played a crucial role in the 1994 rwanda genocide local media fuelled the killings while the international media either ignored or seriously misconstrued what was happening this is the first book to explore both sides of that media equation the book examines how local radio and print media were used as a tool of hate encouraging neighbours to turn against each other it also presents a critique of international media coverage of the cataclysmic events in rwanda bringing . The local media particularly the extremist radio station radio television libre des milles collines rtlm were literally part of the genocide the genocidaires used the media like a weapon the haunting image of killers with a machete in one. The international media really only began to pay attention once hutu refugees began to pour out of rwanda into neighbouring countries as roskis contends it was the humanitarian melodrama of goma that finally garnered the full attention of the international media the rwanda genocide was a media event without question and yet it never quite graduated to the rank of mega event the kind of sensation that frequently attracts hundreds of international reporters camera crews and