The Media environment

10 April 2006 By

In countries of the Great Lakes Region, the most widespread and accessible media is without doubt the radio, public or private. For its part, the written press has a limited audience, because of high costs, distribution problems and illiteracy rates which are sometimes considerable. Generally speaking, these media command limited resources and cannot afford a permanent correspondent with the ICTR in Arusha. On the other hand, international media coverage of trials related to the Rwandan genocide is discontinuous, with reports by special correspondents on major events.

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Furthermore, the ICTR news service has limited human resources and only broadcasts short press releases, in French and in English, providing information on the Tribunal's agenda and major decisions.

In this context, the IDTA's role is crucial in informing the Rwandan population in particular and the international public in general. Hirondelle News Agency is the only press organ covering ICTR trials on a daily basis and in four languages -- English, French, Swahili and Kinyarwanda. To ensure that its production is widely disseminated, the IDTA has developed many partnerships with regional and international media.