Three months after it opened, Haitian journalists are still benefitting from the wide-ranging services provided by the Media Operations Center, which has provided a workspace for journalists after the earthquake. While radio stations based in the capital are back on the air, the long power cuts and problems accessing the Internet are still prompting journalists to seek refuge at the center, said local veteran journalist Yves Marie Chanel. He called it “an essential anchor point for local journalists and those working for international media outlets in Haiti.”
With about 20 computers
and a 40-seat capacity, the media center occupies a comfortable building in the
neighborhood of Bourdon, on Port-au-Prince’s east side. Chanel, who
currently runs Mediacom, served as director of the Media Operations
Center just after the
January 12 earthquake. He told CPJ that the rapid access to the Internet and
the availability of several computers at the center make journalists’ work
easier, especially for those working in print media.
The center was opened
in Port-au-Prince
on January 21 at the initiative of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and printing
company Quebecor. Claude Gilles, a journalist with Le Nouvelliste and the RSF correspondent in Haiti,
currently runs the facility. Internews
and the International Media Support regularly hold training seminars there for
journalists on the trauma and consequences of the earthquake on the work of
journalists in Haiti,
said manager Nadine Auguste. Journalists'
associations and local nongovernmental organizations supporting the Haitian
media also meet there regularly.
The Media Operations Center has gone beyond its
primary function. Auguste said the center not only serves as a workspace, but
also provides coffee, water, and food for journalists who come by on daily
basis. On average, a dozen journalists regularly visit the center every day, she
said.
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