Gang-controlled streets, closed newsrooms: How violence is eroding the media in Haiti

This Caribbean island nation is faced with widespread insecurity and increasingly severe poverty.

About 1.4 million people were forced to flee their homes, mostly because of violence perpetrated by gangs.

According to UNESCO‘S Observatory of Murdered Journalists 14 media workers have been killed in Haiti since 2021.

In front of World Press Freedom Day marked annually on May 3, UN News spoke with two journalists currently working in the capital Port-au-Prince.

Jean Daniel Senate: I work for a daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste And Magik Radio 9. At the moment journalists operate in an extremely harsh and restrictive environment characterized by security challenges. Gangs now control more than 80 percent of the Port‑au‑Prince metropolitan area.

Oberde H. Charles: I am a daily newspaper editor Le National and to Pacificique Television. We cannot move freely. There was little communication between the various departments of the country, and between certain city neighborhoods to which we restricted access. All of this limits our work as journalists.

Jean Daniel Senate: Our job is to go into the field to collect information, look for direct sources, talk to witnesses, and tell stories. It’s very challenging because we constantly receive threats from criminal groups.

Sometimes we also get threats from the policewho may suspect journalists of working for the gang because they can enter gang-controlled environments.

At the same time, criminal groups also believe that journalists sometimes conspire with the police by providing them with information.

Oberde H. Charles: Recently, two fellow journalists were kidnapped. Additionally, in 2022, there were street protests led by textile workers demanding improved conditions. Unfortunately, that day, police gunfire caused injuries to the victim. A fellow journalist was killed the same day.

Jean Daniel Senate: Several dozen journalists have been killed. Some of them have been kidnapped, and others have had to leave the country and live in exile due to threats from criminal groups.

Some media, some journalists, had to leave their neighborhoods, their offices, their homes. Personally, I had to move house twice due to insecurity.

Le Nouvellistelost its historic headquarters in downtown Port‑au‑Prince in February 2024 and Magik Radio 9had to leave his location due to the advance of a criminal group.

One of my colleagues survived an assassination attempt and had to escape. But I also know fellow journalists who were killed. Some people went missing, and their families had no news about them.

So, personally, I was very affected.

Oberde H. Charles: This is a very risky profession. In recent years, many fellow journalists decided to leave the country and seek refuge in Canada, France, or the United States.

They feel threatened and decide that the best way to protect their loved ones or themselves is to leave the country. Today, it seems like it was the best decision.

The journalists who continue to work in Haiti despite the dangers are brave, truly brave.

Jean Daniel Senate: Some radio stations have it simple off the air. There are journalists who have lost their jobs.

There are also journalists who endure physical injuries resulting from gang violence. I know a journalist who lost an eye, one who was shot in the leg and has difficulty moving, and another who is still hospitalized in Cuba.

And then, there’s the emotional trauma. There are journalists who live with trauma due to violence committed by criminal groups.

But despite everything, we continue to do our job, because every profession has risks.

Oberde H. Charles: Our country is not at war with other countries, but there is war going on. And this war is far more horrific and deadly than what is happening in Israel or Ukraine.

Jean Daniel Senate: In the end, we tell ourselves that if we don’t document, if we don’t provide information, if we don’t seek information, then society will bear the impact.

There are voices that are no longer heard, stories that are no longer told, facts that are no longer documented.

You need a powerful medium to convey the truth, to help people on the outside understand what is going on in Haiti, and to gain a clear and accurate understanding of the situation in the country.

Oberde H. Charles: Haiti needs a strong media, which works objectively, providing good and honest information. Therefore, people know which areas they can visit and which areas they should avoid, either within a day or within a certain period of time.

The absence of information can endanger democracy and individual freedom.