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A show of strength

By Charles Arthur Posted May 21 2009

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Despite an improvement in the general climate of media freedom since the election of President René Préval in early 2006, Haiti’s journalists continue to face a wide range of challenges to their ability to practice their profession. Recently though, Haitian media groups have helped organize journalists to win important concessions from authorities.

One of the most basic obstacles to media freedom is the low wage paid to journalists by media owners; at the lower end of the scale, some journalists must try and survive on around just $50 a month. Over the last two years, the prices of some basic food items have doubled, making it a struggle for journalists to afford regular meals for themselves and their families.

The absence of a culture of investigative journalism is also a big problem. Media owners do not encourage journalists to follow through on controversial issues, preferring that they restrict news coverage to reports on politicians’ statements. On the rare occasions when editors do give journalists the time and resources to investigate a breaking story, journalists are deterred by the intolerant attitude of both the authorities and the business community. This intolerance ranges from a refusal to reply to questions or provide information to intimidation and threats of violence if the journalists’ continue with their investigations.

The threats are taken seriously in light of the fact that more than 10 journalists were murdered in the country from 2000 to 2006. Few of those responsible for these murders have been brought to justice, and the continuing climate of impunity weighs heavily on the minds of the country’s media workers.

The current government, though, is generally supportive of media workers’ rights and does not harass or threaten journalists, as has been the case in the past. However, some members of the national police force still treat journalists with little respect and often try to stop them from covering events by issuing threats and sometimes by resorting to violence.

One such incident occurred in early 2008 in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Tom Dumond, a reporter for the Signal FM radio station, was beaten up and arrested by police while he was covering a break-in at a warehouse in the city center. Despite the fact that the reporter had shown his card identifying him as a working journalist, one police officer became inexplicably aggressive and hostile.

Altercations like this have been commonplace in Haiti and usually pass with little reaction. The normal procedure is for the police to state that an inquiry will take place, and then nothing more is ever heard. However, in this instance, the response of the journalist and his colleagues suggests that media workers have had enough of being on the receiving end of police abuse and that determined action can produce results.

When he was released from custody, Dumond loudly protested against his treatment, and colleagues at Signal FM supported him by issuing an ultimatum to the police authorities. Two weeks after the incident, the radio station staff announced that the results of the inquiry had not been made public and that if nothing were done within the next week, the station would henceforth refuse to broadcast any information provided by the police force.

Within days, the police authorities announced that the incident had been investigated, and, as a result, the police officer who had beaten Dumond had been discharged and the officer in charge of the unit on the day of the incident had been disciplined.

This unprecedented response was welcomed by the media rights organization SOS Journalistes, which had supported the ultimatum issued by the Signal FM staff. The head of SOS Journalistes, the veteran media rights advocate Guy Delva, said it indicated that the police leadership was “determined to prevent bad behavior and punish police officers who do not respect the rules of the institution.”

In early 2009, there was another example of a journalist refusing to accept intimidation by officialdom. During a radio interview in mid-January, the Haitian justice minister, Jean Joseph Exumé, threatened Radio Vision 2000 journalist Valéry Numa with arrest. The interview concerned the alleged theft by judicial officials and police officers of a large sum of money during a November 2008 raid on a house belonging to a relative of an alleged drug-trafficker. When Numa asked the justice minister a series of searching questions regarding his ministry’s handling of the affair, Exumé responded by accusing the journalist himself of receiving some of the stolen money and suggesting he could be arrested.

The minister’s remarks sent shock waves through the journalistic community, as they were interpreted as constituting a serious threat to Numa, who had been reporting his investigations into the unravelling drug-money scandal during his daily radio programmes, L’Invité du Jour and Vision 2000 à l’Ecoute. The intimidation was regarded as all the more alarming in view of the fact that since Numa began his investigations into the scandal, he had received several warnings that his life was in danger. The minister’s response was also perceived as a grave blow to investigative journalism in the country. Since the murder of pioneering radio journalist Jean Dominique in 2000, there has been even less investigative journalism than there was before, despite the pressing need for it. The Numa episode would act as a further deterrent to both journalists and editors.

SOS Journalistes and the Haitian Journalists’ Association took up the case and demanded that the justice minister retract his charge. Less than a week later, Exumé publicly announced that his remarks had been misinterpreted and that he had never intended to question the integrity or credibility of the journalist. He said he regretted the choice of words he had made and apologized for the offence. He added that he was a strong believer in media freedom and would “never attempt to intimidate a journalist.”

In a country where senior political figures seldom admit error or apologize, the justice minister’s about-face was another remarkable indication that if journalists and their associations stand up for media workers’ rights, it is possible to change the way things are done.

While the Dumond and Numa cases show that some of Haiti’s journalists are taking bold and successful steps to stand up for their rights, the continuing legal process against media rights advocate Guy Delva indicates that there is still cause for serious concern about the state of media freedom in Haiti.
Delva and his SOS Journalistes organization have been at the forefront of the long-running campaign to bring the murderers of Jean Dominique to justice. In 2007, SOS Journalistes and President Préval jointly launched the Independent Commission to Support the Investigations of Assassinations of Journalists. The aim of the commission is to identify and solve problems with investigations into the murders of at least 10 journalists in recent years.

At the beginning of 2008, the judge charged with the Dominique inquiry tried to question one suspect, the powerful businessman Rudolph Boulos, who had recently been elected to the country’s senate. However, he refused to respond to a series of summonses, citing his parliamentary immunity. As part of his work for the commission, Delva repeatedly and publicly criticized the senator, who responded by launching a legal action against him. In December a court ruled that Delva had been found guilty of defamation against Boulos and sentenced him to one month in prison.

Delva has lodged an appeal against the sentence, but no decision has yet been made. Meanwhile, Amnesty International issued an appeal stating that if Delva were to be detained, it would consider him “a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.”