Gang-controlled streets, shuttered newsrooms: How violence is eroding Haiti’s media
The Caribbean island nation is faced with widespread insecurity as well as deepening poverty.Some 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, largely because of the violence perpetrated by gangs.According to UNESCO’s Observatory of Killed Journalists 14 media workers have been killed in Haiti since 2021.Ahead of World Press Freedom Day marked annually on 3 May, UN News spoke to two journalists currently working in the capital Port-au-Prince.
© Jean Daniel Sénat
Jean Daniel Sénat is a journalist on the daily newspaper, Le Nouvelliste, and Radio Magik 9.
Jean Daniel Sénat: I work for the daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste and Radio Magik 9. At the present time journalists operate in a particularly harsh and restrictive environment characterized by security challenges. Gangs now control more than 80 per cent of the Port‑au‑Prince metropolitan area.Oberde H. Charles: I am an editor for the daily newspaper Le National and for Télévision Pacifique. We cannot move around freely. There is little communication between the different departments of the country, and between certain city neighborhoods to which we have restricted access. All of this limits our work as journalists.Jean Daniel Sénat: Our job is to go out into the field to gather information, to search for first‑hand sources, to speak to witnesses, to tell stories. This is very challenging because we are constantly under threat from criminal groups.Sometimes we are also under threat from the police, who may suspect that journalists are working for the gangs since they are able to enter gang‑controlled neighbourhoods.At the same time, criminal groups also believe that journalists are sometimes conspiring with the police authorities, by providing them with information.
