African journalists warned against hate speech

KIGALI, (Xinhua) -- A two-day media dialogue opened in Rwanda's
capital Kigali on Thursday with a call on journalists to avoid hate
language.
More than 150 media leaders and top journalists from around the
continent are attending the meeting.
Also in attendance are representatives of the African Union, the World
Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, the International
Association of Women in Radio and Television, the African Editors
Forum, the Federation of African Journalists, and several national
journalists' unions.
Speaker after speaker said what happened in Rwanda and some other
parts of the world where media has fuelled violence should never
happen again.
Rwanda's Prime Minister, Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, opened the forum,
reminding journalists that it is important to think about what they
can do to prevent hate language given its disastrous impact.
"This fraternity dialogue which aims at agreeing on strong measures to
curb hate media on the African continent is one of the strategies to
ensure the media is no longer enabled to fuel atrocities," he said.
Rwanda in 1994 some media channels and practitioners played a major
role in inciting violence during the genocide that claimed more than a
million people in 100 days.
Rwandan former journalists like Hassan Ngeze, Ferdinand Nahimana and
Jean Bosco Barayagwiza were convicted by the Arusha- based
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for inciting
genocide and crimes against humanity.
The Prime Minister explained that after learning from experience with
the media and free speech, Rwanda has enacted many media and free
speech laws that both guarantee freedom of expression and the right to
express one's opinions but also ensure that hatred is prevented.
"Some people may think that preventing hate language is a violation of
the freedom of speech. This is not the case. Freedom of speech does
not mean freedom of inciting hatred," he said.
The forum is discussing strategies to deal with intolerance to
different ideas, discriminatory discourse, religious fundamentalism,
and cultural biases among other things.
Experts believe patterns of hate speech continue to appear in the
mainstream media despite its documented consequences.
A recent article entitled "Turning screws on Somalis will force them
to reveal attacks" which appeared in Kenya's Daily Nation on April 11,
2014 was cited as a piece that contains hate speech against Somali
communities in Kenya.
At the end of the forum on Friday, participants are expected to launch
a campaign against hate speech and will form a continental network
against hate speech in African media.
Peacemaker Mbungiramihigo, the Executive Secretary of Rwanda's Media
High Council that co-organised the forum together with other local,
regional, continental, and global media bodies, said the discussions
held in Kigali will also empower local journalists to detect hate
speech.
Organized under the theme, "Turning the page of hate media in Africa,"
the forum is also looking at issues, including ethical challenges,
politics, and incitement to violence, international standards and
practices against hate speech, gender and cultural challenges, as well
as the issue of hatred online and internet- based media.
http://www.coastweek.com/3717-africa-01.htm
--
SIBOMANA Jean Bosco
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