The award-winning journalist Anjan Sundaram discusses his new book Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship, Rwanda, the regime of Paul Kagame, and more, with Joseph Planta.

Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship by Anjan Sundaram (Random House, 2016). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Bad News

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

In 2010, my guest now Anjan Sundaram was living in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda teaching journalism to a group of students. The experience is recounted in a new book Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship. It’s a remarkable book that looks at the lot of Rwandans who are under the thumb of a brutal dictatorship, yet for those of us looking in, the guise is that of a stable democracy. Billions of dollars of Western aid is provided to the regime of Paul Kagame, while it suppresses voices of dissent. Mr. Sundaram’s students, as we find out are exiled, imprisoned or killed, while some go over to disseminate government propaganda. It’s surreal the fear that a lot of journalists go through, sanctioned by the state. The book provides the reader a sketch of Rwanda after the genocide, and I’ll ask Mr. Sundaram for his view onto the future. The Kagame regime could be in power for the most part of the next two decades. Anjan Sundaram is an award-winning journalist, who while based in Africa worked for the New York Times and Associated Press, as well as many other publications around the world. His previous book Stringer, was on his experience covering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. www.anjansundaram.com is the website for more. The book is published by Random House. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in Dubai this morning, Anjan Sundaram; Mr. Sundaram, good morning.

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