Analysis: Ivory Coast's hate media
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4017069.stm
Published: 2004/11/16 16:18:40 GMT
We take a look at the role of the media in the riots in Ivory Coast
during the past 10 days.
It would be easy to think that the last few days of anti-white
violence, and explosive protest throughout the streets of Abidjan, have
been the product of chaos.
Yet there is strong evidence to suggest that the supporters of
President Laurent Gbagbo, who reacted so strongly to the French
destruction of the Ivorian air force near the beginning of this latest
crisis, have been receiving firm orders on how to behave.
National television and radio has been broadcasting fervent, not to say
feverish, messages calling on people to take to the streets.
On occasions, the messages have strayed from the motivational to the
incendiary.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanded what he called
"hate media" be stopped immediately.
Monday's UN Security Council decision to impose sanctions on Ivory
Coast was even more explicit.
It demanded "that the Ivorian authorities stop all radio and television
broadcasting hatred, intolerance and violence".
It also announced that anyone "who incites publicly hatred and
violence" will have their bank accounts frozen and will be stopped from
leaving the country.
So just what has been flooding the airwaves and television screens of
the country in the past few days?
Protest radio
President Laurent Gbagbo's opponents have frequently claimed that he
has installed a system of parallel government in which the army is
seconded and sometimes supplanted by militias, and in which the
government of national reconciliation is bypassed by shadowy advisers.
When the French peacekeepers destroyed the Ivorian air force, it was
obvious that the Ivorian armed forces did not have the resources - nor
perhaps the desire - to respond.
Instead, a flurry of radio and television broadcasts called on ordinary
Ivorians to take to the streets.
Charles Ble Goude, the leader of the Young Patriots, whom the UN accuse
of being a militia, sprang into action, making an impassioned broadcast
calling on the Ivorian air force to "retake the airport", which had
been seized by the French.
Tens of thousands of young men and women surged towards the airport,
only to be beaten back by French soldiers and helicopters, at the cost
of several lives and hundreds of injuries.
It was these people who then turned their attentions to French and
other white citizens.
Days of looting and occasional violence have forced thousands of
Westerners to flee the country.
Words of war
President Laurent Gbagbo later made a televised speech calling for
calm.
But the television surrounded that appeal with repeated broadcasts by
former Prime Minister Pascal Affi Nguessan, the head of President
Gbagbo's FPI party, to stop the French military "using any means
necessary".
Another speech that was played and replayed was National Assembly
speaker Mamadou Koulibaly.
He said France's actions were equivalent to a declaration of war.
When French tanks and armoured vehicles massed at the Hotel Ivoire, a
luxury hotel not far from the state television and the presidential
residence, state media implored Ivorians to form a human shield around
the president.
According to the radio, the French tanks were intending to oust
President Gbagbo.
Again, thousands of people responded to the call, and again, hundreds
of people were injured and at least 10 died.
State television showed report after report showing wounded men and
women in graphic detail, accompanied by commentaries denouncing France.
Other programmes invited pro-Gbagbo leaders to give their opinions -
and exhortations.
Religion
Sometimes there was a religious dimension to the speeches - which is
particularly significant in a country split in two by a war that many
have portrayed as the largely Christian south against the largely
Muslim north.
One woman called on all Christians to mobilise, as "Satan has attacked
the country".
In the last few weeks, there has been no room for dissenting voices in
the state media.
All opposition newspapers have been either destroyed or banned in the
government-held south.
When the Ivorian armed forces launched air attacks on 4 November, the
head of the television station, Kebe Yacouba, was sidelined in favour
of a hardliner.
Although officially he has not been replaced, Mr Yacouba was insistent
he bore no responsibility for what would be broadcast in the days and
weeks to come.
Silver Nebout, one of President Gbagbo's communications advisers, was
at the television station on the morning Jean-Paul Dahini was brought
in to replace Kebe Yacouba.
"In this time of crisis, it is important to manage information," he
told the BBC.
Over the last couple of weeks, information has been managed in one
direction and often with very precise objectives in mind.
For many in Ivory Coast, the "hate media" that Kofi Annan railed
against are reminiscent of Radio Mille Collines in Rwanda, which in
1994 called for - and got - genocide.
In Abidjan, some people are already calling the state radio "Radio
Mille Lagoons", after the lagoons that dot the southern,
government-held half of the country.
Ivory Coast is still a long way removed from what happened in Rwanda.
Nevertheless, state radio and television are unquestionably a powerful
weapon in a crisis which is frequently being fought through decidedly
unconventional means.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4017069.stm
Published: 2004/11/16 16:18:40 GMT
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