The Role the Local Mass Media played in the Movie; Sometime in April

Over the years, several communication scholars have been able to assert to the inextricable nature of the media and the society. These repositories of knowledge have therefore tried to lay good bedrock for their claims by positing myriads of theories, models, research hypothesis, propositions and definitions of media and its associated jargons in order to expatiate on the pertinence of the media to the existence of a society.

Doing a surface level survey on the several types of media theoretical assertions, it would be realized that the variance in the claims owe to the wealth of satisfactions that can be derived from the media. This factor which has made some people easily susceptible to the actions of the media while others may be a bit skeptical is as a result of the divergent perceptions of the media contents and concepts. An intriguing theory that can be apt to this study is the Agenda Setting theory propounded by Mc Combs and Shaw (1972; 1993) in Denis Mc Quail (2005; 512) which holds on to the claim of the media being successful in telling us what to think about alone and not what to think of.

Now, relating the aforementioned media parlances to the movie-‘Sometime in April’, it would be discovered that there is no gainsaying that the media as portrayed is active while on the other hand, a vast majority of the audience can be said to be passive and were solely dependent on the media. An inherent function of the media which Ifedayo Daramola (2003:104) described as “Socialization” was efficiently put to use before the advent of the war whereby bulletins were distributed to a secluded minority sector of the society to disseminate some information to them in their local dialects while similar information was also relayed to the mass public but was portrayed as that filled with triviality. This act of the media projects it as one with an overriding influence on the intellect of its audience. It also portrays the media as having a manipulative effect on the psyche and intellect of its target audience.

Drawing an inkling from the media theories, this form of media control can be said to be an active media and a passive audience rule where the media audience are solely dependent on the messages of the media and do not at any time question its authority nor actively take charge of the messages they receive from it by exhibiting a little act of skepticism.
 
Borrowing an assertion from James Watson (2003; 70), the Hutu tribe who gullibly and ignorantly took the messages of the media to be those of preparedness for an incessant undefeated war outage, can be described as being a ‘Resistive Audience’ who do otherwise than the actual intentions of the media. Furthermore, through the several war preparation broadcasts, the mass media was able to mobilize the callous marauders that were used as the stooge to achieve the intents of the initiators. Little wonder why Daramola went beyond borders to state that the media has the power to “destroy and build” … “moderate a society or restrain it” (Op. cit: 102)

Nonetheless, no matter how loathsome one might chastise the Rwandan media, both before and after the gory genocide, it would be lopsided to out-rightly rest all the blames on the shoulders of the media as the media has no sovereign power of its own and can thus be influenced at one time of the other based on it modes of operations. There is therefore nothing as misleading as a negative influence from; the government, political bodies or the owner of the media outfit all filled with the accomplishment of an ulterior motive. These media barons as Watson (Op.cit; 93) describes them are megalomaniacs (power driven people) who use the media to achieve their spiteful intents. They have the supreme power on the messages that are relayed or disseminated by the media. They also ultimately fine-tune and sift those messages to suit their selfish interests thus being in their favour regardless of the objectivity rule in media ethics.

On the part of the lead role journalist in the movie Honore Butera who worked for Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), Cohen (1963; 191) in Mc Quail (Op.cit; 284) described his character as that of a ‘Neutral Reporter’ who serves as “an informer, interpreter and instrument of government (lending itself as a channel or mirror)”. Hence, the neutral reporter is easily susceptible to the whims and caprices of the government and those in power which hinders the neutrality and subjectivity of such reporter as against the ethics of his profession. However, as Honore was, such a reporter might be ignorant of his being used as a stooge by the government and might not even have the slightest inkling of the hazards he could or would have caused till the deed had been committed.

Furthermore, as against the assertions of some international scholars (cited in Daramola 2003:116), some of the responsibilities expected of a journalist are; “…they need to be careful not to exercise their own freedom in a way that would infringe upon the liberties of other people and that would have an inescapable responsibility towards their fellow-citizens, the national community and other national in the community…” Honore unknowingly gave in to the malicious militia who toppled the government of the country and used him to propagate the war information. However, as a Latin legal maxim has it that-“ignorantia legis non excusa” (ignorance before the law is no excuse), Honore’s plea of oblivion may not be treated with levity.

Moving briskly to the international media aspect, CNN and BBC can be said to have Hegemonic Control (as explained by Watson (Op. cit; 18) on all countries. CNN through its situation in the citadel of power and the most prominent country in the world (America) was able to project the war actions to different parts of the world (America in particular) and as such bring it to the awareness of the American government. Also, the movie unraveled that despite the claim of independent rule in every country with its own sovereign government, the American government has an overriding power on all countries in the world. CNN’s act of disseminating the killings in Rwanda made the American government intervene and subsequently went to the rescue of the American expatriates in Rwanda. After much persistence of the ugly gory incidence the American government tried to curb the act and gave orders for its halt.

Before the inception of the uprising, the Rwandan media exercised an intrinsic social effect of the media Called panic inducement on the people and as such created a fear of insecurity in their minds. Ironically as they did this, they also gave room for a sense of relief through reassurance during panic and relayed messages that could help curb or discard paranoia by trying to portray the existence of tranquility. This assertion of apprehension can be attributed to why Jeanne, Augustine Muganza’s wife suggested going on exile with her family in order to avert the fear of the unknown which Augustine rather disregarded.

A projection of the past into the present was also meticulously done by the media. Through this a reflection of the 1994 genocide was revised in 2004 as Augustine’s class students were given an awareness of the uprising through the American president’s CNN broadcast on the Rwandan war incident. This subsequently aroused some questions and sentimental feelings from the students who were inquisitive as well as pathetic about the incident.

As portrayed in the movie and as obtained in reality, media profession was seen as that which cannot be jettisoned at any point in time in a society regardless of the peril or placidity being experienced because despite the incessant marauding and chaos at that time, the media still went about carrying out its duties even when it was at the detriment of many people. Hence it can be emphatically stated that, just as communication is, the media is indispensable in the building or destruction of a nation.