A Right to Media? Lorie M. Graham - Columbia Law School

466 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW [41:429
mirror of identity, reflected by the media, ensures that indigenous
people . . . remain historically invisible as part of the heritage of
discrimination and racism. The system of dominant values
marginalizes the traditional cultural and spiritual values and
practices of these groups.” 135 At best, such portrayals are the result of
cultural insensitivity and a lack of representation of indigenous
peoples in mainstream media. At worst, such portrayals are
deliberate and serve to perpetuate stereotypes of indigenous peoples
for social, economic, and political ends. As tragic events such as those
that unfolded in Rwanda and elsewhere illustrate, biased media can
pose a threat not only to the health of communities but to the
stability of the nation as a whole. 136
However, as discussed above, media also has the potential to
assist in the fight against discrimination, the strengthening of
language and culture, and the realization of the right of selfdetermination.
A media that honors freedom of expression and the
right to information is critical to both a people’s and a nation’s
healthy development. To this end, many regional bodies and national
legislatures have expressed a commitment to strengthening media
institutions and increasing the diversity of voices represented by the
media through a concept known as “media pluralism.”
Media pluralism is a concept that has been championed at
both the international and more local levels. 137 Media pluralism
means that the news is drawn from a diverse range of sources and
135. ECOSOC, Comm’n on Human Rights, Special Rapporteur on
Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance, Mission to Guatemala, para. 28, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2005/18/Add.2
(Mar. 11, 2005) (prepared by Doudou Diène).
136. See, e.g., Human Rights Watch, Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide
in Rwanda (1999), available at http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/
1999/rwanda/Geno1-3-10.htm#P419_175363 (explaining the role that the media
played in promoting ethnic violence and differences before the genocide occurred);
Anup Shah, Global Issues, Media Propaganda and Rwanda, (Oct. 25, 2006),
http://www.globalissues.org/article/405/media-propaganda-and-rwanda (providing
an in-depth analysis of the genocide in Rwanda and asserting that claims of old
ethnic rivalries were used to play down the role of modern media in bringing
about the genocide).
137. The International Programme for the Development of Communication
(IDPC) is a major forum in the U.N. system designed to develop free and
pluralistic media. IPDC has worked with state governments and indigenous
communities to assist with the development of local, indigenous media. See
UNESCO, International Programme for the Development of
Communication, http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=18654&URL_DO
=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html (last visited Feb. 5, 2010).