Killing the Microphone: When Broadcast Freedom Should Yield to Genocide Prevention

Abstract:     
When powerful radio broadcasts exhort listeners to kill their neighbors, may outside nations or international organizations legally interrupt the signals to prevent genocide? International law has no legal framework for assessing and responding to such broadcasts. This Article attempts to create one. The Article draws on empirical research in the field of communication to identify conditions in which media messages become so powerful that they can mobilize audience members. Using this research, it constructs a framework for determining when speech constitutes incitement to genocide such that it loses any protection under international law and perhaps even triggers an affirmative duty on the part of other states to intervene. The proposed framework is unique. Unlike current definitions of incitement to genocide, it is not concerned with convicting the criminal, but aims entirely at preventing the crime. It is also unique in bringing this interdisciplinary approach to this compelling goal.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 36

Keywords: broadcast, communication, genocide, international, intervention, prevention, radio, speech, telecommunication

Accepted Paper Series