(Not) Looking for connection. Representations of Genocide in Rwanda in the Lithuanian Media in 1994

Abstract

This article analyzes how Lithuanian newspapers, specifically, Lietuvos Rytas (The Morning of Lithuania), Lietuvos Aidas (The Echo of Lithuania), Respublika (The Republic) and Atgimimas (Revival) represented the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. This research seeks to establish whether the Lithuanian periodicals of the time made attempts to create individualized relationship with the events ‘there’, or the media restricted itself to rendering and presenting the information. The article seeks insights about the way of perceiving the events which took place in Rwanda and establishing what phrasing was being used in descriptions. It has been determined that the term ‘genocide’ was hardly ever used at all; it is more common to encounter such terms as ‘civil conflict’, ‘civil war’ or ‘war of tribes’, which placed an emphasis on the mutual and archaic nature of the conflict. It has been noted that, in the publications, a war-centric attitude was predominant, and military forces were deemed to be the key actors of the conflict. Meanwhile, the mass killings were presented as an inherent lateral consequence of the war. It has been found out that most publications on Rwanda were brief informative fact-oriented messages, which did not aspire to seek reflection or creation of empathy. With emphatically rare exceptions, genocide was being represented as a tragedy of a geographically and culturally distant society. Genocide was thus viewed from a perspective of a distant observer, without looking for connections with Lithuania or opportunities for Lithuanians to provide assistance.