(2012-09) Freedom of the Press in Haiti: The Chilling Effect on Journalists Critical of the Government

Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) • 2012 • 12 pages

Summary — A University of San Francisco School of Law and IJDH report, based on June 2012 interviews with nine journalists, documents intimidation, violence, defamation lawsuits, and government stonewalling of the press under President Michel Martelly.

View Document View Original Source

Key Findings

Journalists critical of the Martelly government faced intimidation, threats, destruction of equipment, and retaliation, creating a chilling effect on freedom of expression. Critical journalists were systematically stonewalled, denied interviews and access to public information, with National Palace credential forms demanding names and addresses of spouses, children, and neighbors. Retaliatory defamation lawsuits increased, including suits by the Prime Minister and the First Lady, with defamation carrying criminal penalties. Two journalist murders were already reported for 2012, and local authorities blocked investigation in the shooting of Wendy Phele.

Full Description

This report analyzes press freedom in Haiti during the first fifteen months of President Michel Martelly's administration, drawing on in-person interviews conducted in Port-au-Prince in June 2012 with nine Haitian and international journalists from conservative, centrist, and left-wing outlets. It identifies two trends: intimidation, threats, equipment destruction, and retaliation against journalists critical of the government, and stonewalling, in which critical journalists were denied interviews and access to public information. Documented cases include the arrest of Petit-Goave radio hosts, the firing of five state television journalists, retaliatory defamation lawsuits by the Prime Minister and First Lady, the shooting of correspondent Wendy Phele, and the murder of Radio Boukman director Jean Liphete Nelson. The report situates these events against Haitian constitutional guarantees, the American Convention on Human Rights, and Inter-American Commission standards, notes that conditions remain better than under prior coup governments and the Duvalier dictatorship, and offers nine recommendations covering investigation of attacks, decriminalization of defamation, access to information, and journalist training and working conditions.

Topics

Geography

Time Coverage

2000 — 2012

Keywords

press freedom, journalists, Michel Martelly, defamation lawsuits, intimidation, access to information, freedom of expression, radio, IACHR, human rights, censorship

Entities

Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, University of San Francisco School of Law, Michel Martelly, Sofia Martelly, Reporters Without Borders, SOS Journalists, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Le Nouvelliste, Radio Boukman, Jean Liphete Nelson, Wendy Phele, Jean Dominique, Television Nationale d'Haiti, Nicole Phillips

Notes

IJDH/University of San Francisco thematic report; ayitistats wave B