Some Haitian journalists already view the motivations of the foreign media with cynicism. Claude Gilles runs the Reporters without Borders Media Operations Center in Port au Prince, which allowed radio stations and newspapers to begin reporting again within days of the earthquake. “In the U.S. or France, when there is no sex or violence or anything like that, that’s when you see them coming into Haiti looking for those things,” said Gilles. “Every country in the world knows that blood, sex, and violence sell.”
Correction: We originally reported that CNN’s coverage of the recent cholera epidemic marked the network’s first visit to Haiti since the January 12 earthquake. In fact, it was the second time—Anderson Cooper visited Haiti this summer to receive an honorary knighthood from the Haitian government. The relevant sentence has been updated. CJR regrets the error.
Bravo and thank you for this article! I concur especially with the remarks made by Claude Gilles: where's the reporting on HOW the money donated is being used and WHAT plan is in place to get Haiti back on its feet? In truth, Haiti has never been allowed to get on its feet, so using the phrase "back on its feet" is very inaccurate.
More reporting, please, on the next steps rather than the usual loop of how Haiti is the "poorest in the western hemisphere"!
#1 Posted by Myriam Breton Jones, CJR on Sat 20 Nov 2010 at 07:06 AM
it has been interesting to see reporting from the real news end, and from the "disaster voyeur" end in Haiti. Ansel Herz has done a good job with recent pieces. Reed Lindsay's work has always been good. Al Jazeera has been credible. The same bifurcation in quality of work happens in the NGO world. Somefoster perpetual dependency and infantilization while others promote community development and integration of Haitian run services. As a frequent Haiti visitor for the past 4 years, there is no future in either infantilization or voyeurism. It will have to be good old hard work and honest reporting of real news.
#2 Posted by john evans, CJR on Sat 20 Nov 2010 at 03:18 PM
I went to Haiti with a medical team (I'm a former paramedic and radio/newspaper/magazine reporter) after the quake and found myself having the same reaction to descriptions of some of the photos our team leader had taken in the immediate aftermath. I won't even describe them - my first reaction was to say that those pictures should probably never been seen. I certainly don't want to, even though I can understand peoples' fascination with them. I can't stand to watch broadcast news about Haiti (or the wars, which killed a member of my extended family). It seems so clearly to be primarily about entertainment, not reporting.
#3 Posted by Nick Arnett, CJR on Sun 21 Nov 2010 at 12:27 PM
Yes, it probably will. Because without porn many deprived men will go out on the streets and rape all the women and then a load of money will be needed to be spent building prisons and imprisoning these rapists and sentencing them to death.
Mojoblast
#4 Posted by jackie saif, CJR on Fri 3 Dec 2010 at 06:17 AM