Unemployed Journalists in Haiti Still Finding Stories to Report

By: Kathie Klarreich | 02/23/2011

We no longer meet in a tent but under the shade on the school grounds.

Several weeks into an investigative training program for Haitian journalists who lost their jobs after the January 2010 earthquake, a second group of journalists asked to join.

Our first session was held in a tent on the grounds of a state school in Cite Soleil, which for years was referred to as the poorest slum in the Western hemisphere. With a million or so people still living in camps throughout the capital since last year’s earthquake, I’m not sure that label still fits. But there’s no argument that the population is poor. And homeless.

This particular group, the Association of Young Journalists Working for Another Haiti (AJJCAH), was formed after the members graduated from a journalism ‘trade’ school. Only one member is currently employed as a journalist.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. As I do before every training, I asked the journalists to fill out a form that would help me see how much they understood about the differences between “conventional” and “investigative” journalism. On the whole, AJJCAH scored higher than a group of employed journalists from one of Haiti’s top radio stations.

The AJJCAH journalists are highly motivated. It’s not just that they have more time on their hands than employed journalists. They are hungry for knowledge and have officially blessed me for a long life so that they can have many more years of training. I haven’t the heart to tell them that the Fellowship only lasts a year!

Several of them are already working on an investigation into “journalism” trade schools. They’ve created a questionnaire for the journalism school owners that they will compare with the responses from the schools’ graduates. This will help them evaluate how effective the school training is and what kind of education working journalists have. A second group is looking at the services provided by the non-governmental agencies in one of the tent camps.

A third group has already turned its lack of success into a story. Humiliated at every turn by the people the journalists tried to interview for an investigation on the women’s prison, the director of the association wrote an op-ed piece denouncing the lack of respect journalists receive:

Overall, we Haitian journalists want our opponents to know that we have a right to information, that we enjoy the rights guaranteed by Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the 1996 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, signed and ratified by 154 states. The authorities may not harass or intimidate or obstruct Haitian journalists in any manner whatsoever, any more than they can censor their words or writings, or attempt to influence them by any means.

If I was a media owner, I’d be lucky to have an ACCJAH member as part of my staff.

Latest News

ICFJ se Suma a Otras 9 Organizaciones Internacionales Para Presentar un Amicus Curiae en el Caso del Periodista Guatemalteco Encarcelado José Rubén Zamora

Un grupo de 10 organizaciones internacionales presentó esta semana un amicus curiae ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia de Guatemala en el caso del periodista José Rubén Zamora Marroquín. El amicus, presentado el 26 de marzo, argumenta que el retorno de Zamora a prisión preventiva constituye una violación de sus derechos fundamentales bajo el derecho guatemalteco e internacional, e insta a la Corte a otorgar un recurso de amparo pendiente y permitir que el Sr. Zamora lleve su proceso bajo medidas sustitutivas.

ICFJ Joins 9 Other International Organizations in Submitting Amicus Brief in Case of Imprisoned Guatemalan Journalist José Rubén Zamora

A group of 10 international organizations submitted an amicus curiae brief to Guatemala’s Supreme Court in the case of journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín. The brief, filed on March 26, argues that Zamora’s return to preventive detention constitutes a violation of his fundamental rights under Guatemalan and international law, and urges the Court to grant a pending amparo appeal and allow Zamora to return to house arrest.

Press Freedom on Campus: Why it Matters and What Student Journalists Need Most

In February, ICFJ partnered with Vanderbilt University and Freedom Forum, with support from the Lumina Foundation, to bring university faculty and students, international and U.S. journalists, and media leaders together for a discussion about the importance of press freedom in democratic societies. Participants stressed how U.S.-based journalists can learn from the experiences of their colleagues abroad, and they dived into the challenges campus reporters face, such as a lack of funding and harassment from fellow students, offered advice for engaging audiences, and more.