Journalism since Goebbels – sifting facts from ethnically charged propaganda

When the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda convicted Georges Henri Yvon Joseph Ruggiu, a Belgian national and presenter on the Rwandan radio station Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, it was the first time in the history of international justice that a member of the press pleaded guilty to charges of incitement to commit genocide. Ruggiu was sentenced to 12 years in prison and was the only non-Rwandan charged with involvement in the genocide.

It may speak volumes about the sort of media ethics practiced on the continent that two more journalists have been charged at the International Criminal Court.

In the rulings of pre-trial chamber cases against William S. Ruto, Henry Kosgey and Joshua arap Sang, the judges found that the facts presented against Joshua Sang had substantial evidence that by virtue of his position as a broadcaster at Kass FM, he intentionally contributed to the commission of crimes against humanity (See point 355).

The second journalist, Mr. Walter Baraza, currently has an arrest warrant issued against him by the ICC prosecutor, for three counts of offences against the administration of justice consisting of corruptly influencing, or attempting to corruptly influence, three ICC witnesses.

To be fair, being charged with crimes, even when those charges are confirmed certainly does not equal a presumption of guilt. Even if Walter Baraza were arrested and delivered to the ICC, he would still get the opportunity to defend himself before his accusers.

THE EXAMPLE OF GOEBBELS

However, within the tenets of the Rome Statute, it is clear that the drafters of the constitutive articles found it absolutely necessary to address the significant role played by media practitioners in the driving, inciting and entrenching of acts of violence, atrocities and crimes against targeted communities.

The strongest evidence of the significant role that the media plays in driving the psychology of its audience towards a murderous agenda is exhibited by the propaganda machinery driven by the Reich Minister for Volk Enlightenment and Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels in Nazi Germany

Goebbels incorporated Nazi ideology into the very culture, art and entertainment activities of the German population by purging all Jewish art and cultural organizations and any other groups whose art was deemed suspect.

The dehumanisation of those whose ideas were not in line with Nazi ideology was systematic; their voices were banned in theatres, cinemas, bookstores and in the streets. The Reich Culture Chamber, comprising of Reich Film, Music, Theatre, Press, Fine Arts, Literary and Radio chambers supervised and regulated all facets of German culture.

Goebbels was highly intelligent and he placed his intelligence and the power and control he wielded over media and art to pursue his virulent propaganda campaign against the Jewish population.

VICE-LIKE CONTROL

The results of this coordinated, sustained war of ideology forever changed how media can or should be utilised in a democratic society.

Through a national authority the death of millions of civilians was not only justified it was put across as a necessity for the sustenance of society as a whole. Though Goebbels committed suicide and never faced trial, the legacy of his activities and the sort of action points he would indulge in still influence government and their approach to the media today.

It may be of interest to note that in Kenya, the government had maintained a vice-like control over the media for the better part of the nation’s post independence period.

There was a brief period of relative tolerance during President Kibaki’s first term.  However by the time the 2007 elections rolled around it was clear that the era of tolerance was on its way out.

Ethically speaking every journalist is expected to be objective and professional in his reporting. However, just like Goebbels, each individual journalist has a psychology and world view that is influenced by their politics and personal experiences.

For many Kenyan journalists, the long history of government censorship, intolerance of dissent and arrest and torture of journalists may be influential, shaping how they write or broadcast.

PLUNDER OF COFFERS

More intrinsically, in the case of Joshua Sang, whether tribal allegiance influenced his broadcasts is at issue. Tribal allegiance, or as Kenyans prefer to call it , “tribalism” is the political belief that one’s tribe deserves, and should receive, an interest in the nation’s political leadership and government.

The truth is that in Kenya, we have a class system that legitimises its existence across all tribes by banking on tribalism – the political class justifies their plunder of national coffers by arguing it is due to them by virtue of their tribe.

It is this ideology that reigns supreme in every single election. There is a lot borrowed from the Nazi propaganda objectives in the way broadcasters during the 2007 elections addressed national concerns while using ethnic angles.

Indeed, the 2007 elections were so ethnically divisive at the national level that one campaign was dubbed “41 versus 1” in reference to having 41 tribes voting against 1 tribe, the Kikuyu, who were perceived to be in power through President Mwai Kibaki.

SEEMINGLY UNITED

It has become a societal norm to view economic situations and class hierarchies in terms of tribe, a matter that makes the agenda of the elite, which is to stay in power, hugely successful.

This ethnic-driven propaganda, still in force years after the 2007 post-election violence, is an indicator of just how fragile the elections on March 4^th 2013 were. The union of two ICC suspects in the drive for the presidency twisted the previous elections tribal chant, pitting previous allies against each other and uniting previous enemies, at least politically.

While on the political stage the two communities in conflict within the Rift Valley are seemingly united, on the ground, and possibly even in newsrooms, the situation is still quite volatile. The bitterness, hatred and enmity crafted in 2007, backed by years of ethnic intolerance left entire regions essentially ethnically cleansed; there are places in the Rift Valley where all “foreigners” left never to return.

With this sort of ingrained psychological landscape, it would not be surprising to find more than a handful of journalists and broadcasters still using their resources to vent against their perceived ethnic enemies at the behest of an authority or owner.

TWISTED ALLIEGENCES

When we consider the cases of Joshua Sang and Walter Baraza, ideally what we should be looking at is not their journalistic abilities, but the fact that media may have been used for objectives other than to broadcast news and information, and later to interfere with a criminal case and witnesses.

In fact, the media itself has contributed significantly towards an agenda of derision of the ICC – challenging the legitimacy of the court, the cases and the funding of the ICC in a propaganda narrative that points a finger to “western” nations. See, for example, this story where the ICC giving out money to cater for expenses is treated as unusual or suspect.

It is twisted tribal allegiances, and the support of wealthy and extremely powerful elites that drives propaganda by broadcasters in Kenya. With this situation still in place, it is quite possible that should a future conflict erupt due to political elections, even more journalists would be key to the incitement behind that violence.

More so, we would find that some journalists would not only potentially commit the crimes of incitement, but also turn around and challenge the legitimacy of any judicial process that attempts to hold them to account.

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