An invisible genocide: how the Western media failed to report the 1994 Rwandan genocide of the Tutsi and why

This literature review analyses current academic literature examining the reporting of the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsi in 1994 in the American and European media. It shows how the genocide was mischaracterised as a 'tribal war' and an act of spontaneous violence and primordial hatred, rather than being accurately reported as a meticulously planned and implemented political project of ethnic extermination. It examines the range of reasons for this failure to report the news accurately presented in the current literature, finding a combination of factors: racism, lack of media interest in reporting on Rwanda and Africa, a shortage of images of the genocide, an uncritical approach to government statements downplaying genocide, and the drive to report stories that gratify Western viewers' perception of the West as being morally idealistic, just, and civilised. When the truth contradicted these imperatives and prejudices academic literature shows that the media sacrificed the truth for the economic bottom line to produce media that sells.