• Press card of American author and journalist Elizabeth Becker, 1973. She covered the civil war in Cambodia for the Washington Post starting in 1972. She was one of the first members of the press to question who the Khmer Rouge really were. Source: Elizabeth Becker

Leading up to Genocide: Whistleblowing Versus Censorship

  • Exhibition United against genocide: Understand, question, prevent
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Exhibition United against genocide: Understand, question, prevent

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Leading up to Genocide: Whistleblowing Versus Censorship

Genocide is always preceded by early warning signs. Some media outlets denounce the rise in racial hatred and inform the public about what is going on.
Between 1890 and 1915, massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were reported in Western and Armenian newspapers.
In Germany, few newspapers denounced the persecution of Jews after 1933 because the Nazis took control of the media. Outside the country, some outlets did cover these events.
Between 1970 and 1975, Cambodia was torn apart by a civil war that divided public opinion and international media. Would the arrival of the Khmer Rouge lead to peace or to more massacres?
Although prior to a genocide the media may be able to push the international community to intervene, they are often already being controlled by those in power.