Provisional media death toll rising in Haiti

By Jean Roland Chery/CPJ Haiti consultant

Outside their wrecked headquarters, Radio Caraibe's presenters broadcast from a makeshift studio in Port-au-Prince. (Reuters)

A month after the January 12 earthquake, the death toll for journalists has risen to 26, with two others injured, according to a new provisional tally released by media groups in Haiti. Under the umbrella of International Media Support, a joint mission of press groups (including the Association of Haitian Journalists, SOS Journalistes, and the Group for Reflection and Action for Freedom of the Press) visited Leogane, Petit Goave, and Grand Goave on Friday—the areas most devastated by the disaster—to try to get a better sense of the number of journalists killed. CPJ continues to investigate the number of deaths from the quake.

According to the groups, of about 50 radio stations that used to broadcast in the capital before the earthquake, only about a dozen are now on the air. In Leogane, only four radio stations are currently able to operate, while six others have been completely destroyed. The situation is also grave in Petit Goave and Grand Goave.

In Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, some radio stations will take a long time to resume their normal programming. Such is the case for Radio Ibo, which is currently broadcasting at low capacity from the private residence of its director, Herold Jean Francois. Radio Maximum, Magic 9, Radio Tropic FM, Radio Kiskeya, Canal 11, and Radio-Télé Guinen, have been badly damaged.

Most of the television stations based in the capital, about a dozen, are still off the air. Yet some—Télé Métropole and Télé Caraïbe, among others—are broadcasting programs from U.S, French, or Latin American television stations.

Editor’s Note: If you have any information on journalists and media outlets in Haiti please post a comment below or notify us via e-mail msalazar@cpj.org, or Twitter: @HelpJournalists. We are collecting funds that will go directly to Haitian journalists. If you’d like to make a contribution, please click this link and enter “Haiti” in the “Notes” section on the second page.

February 10, 2010 2:36 PM ET | Permalink

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