Hate media

While the hate speech promoted by these types of media can be prosecuted differently under the national laws of several countries, because of its proven ability to contribute to and incite genocide, hate media used to foment the cleansing of a particular national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part can be prosecuted under international law for incitement to genocide. Incitement to Genocide was declared a crime against humanity under the Nuremberg Trials.[2] Nevertheless, under the laws of Nuremberg, only hate media propaganda which calls for direct extermination is considered a crime against humanity.[3] After the crimes committed in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, this definition was modified and a new definition was provided for the Rwandan tribunals. According to this definition, hate media propaganda considered to be a crime against humanity must be involved in the direct and indirect incitement of genocide which "must be defined ... as directly provoking the perpetrator(s) to commit genocide, whether through speeches, shouting, or threats uttered in public spaces or at public gatherings or through the sale or dissemination ... of written material or printed matter ... or through the public display of placards or posters, or through another means of audiovisual communication."[3]

RTLM contributed to the Rwandan genocide by helping the Rwandan authorities “spur and direct killings in both those areas most eager to attack Tutsi members of the Hutu opposition and in areas where the killings initially were resisted.”[9] Hence, it helped not only raise hate against the Tutsis by emphasizing their cruelty and ruthlessness[9] and exhort “all citizens to see killing Tutsis as their responsibility,”[9] but also give the instructions and orders which were necessary in directing people to commit genocide. As General Roméo Dallaire has argued, the RTLM was created specifically as a tool of genocidaires to demonize Tutsi, lay the groundwork, then literally drive on the killing once the genocide started.”[10] In accordance with the definition of hate media propaganda as a crime against humanity established in Nuremberg and redefined in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Ferdinand Nahimana and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, both the founding members of the RTLM were sentenced to life in prison under the ICTR.[9]

The weekly tabloid Der Sturmer was also said to incite the genocide of the Jewish people during the Holocaust by fomenting hate which allowed such an event to take place in German society.[11] It promoted this hate by vilifying the Jewish people and fomenting racial stereotypes, particularly among its less educated audience.[12] For this reason, its publisher, Julius Streicher, was accused of incitement to genocide during the Nuremberg Trials and sentenced to death by hanging.[2]