Journalists in Haiti

[21]

I can't be the only one completely sick of the 'look at me, I'm in Haiti' television reports, especially when the print reporting from there is just stunningly good. The writing, the access, the intensity of the coverage....incredible stuff.

I know we have a thriving Haiti thread on the News board, but thought it might be worthwhile to showcase some of the work from our colleagues over there.

From yesterday:

Reporting from Carrefour, Haiti - They built the roadblock across the highway out of whatever they could find -- burning tires, the shell of a refrigerator, a rusty bed frame, a palm tree stump, a beaten-up camper shell and eight bodies, one in a makeshift coffin, another stuffed into a suitcase.

The young men of the Carrefour suburb of Port-au-Prince then furiously interrogated drivers Saturday about what they were carrying in their cars.

They were sick of people from the earthquake-wrecked capital dumping the dead on their streets in the middle of the night.

"There were only three people who died in this area," shouted Pierre Maxim, 21. "The next day we wake up and see bodies all over."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-haiti-roadblock17-2010jan17,0,1993795.story

And this one, which coffeeman posted yesterday:

The old lady crawls in the dirt, wailing for her pills. The elderly man lies motionless as rats pick at his overflowing diaper.

There is no food, water or medicine for the 84 surviving residents of the Port-au-Prince Municipal Nursing Home, barely a mile (1 1/2 kilometers) from the airport where a massive international aid effort is taking shape.

"Help us, help us," 69-year-old Mari-Ange Levee begged Sunday, lying on the ground with a broken leg and ribs. A cluster of flies swarmed the open fracture in her skull.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_waiting_to_die

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

I know the AP's Michelle Faul is over there. Never met her, but had some very pleasant phone calls with here in 2001 about a possible job in the Caribbean a few months out of college. Never came through for budgetary reasons. She's done work for some real hot spots. A real journalist.

 

[Boom_70]

I read what I thought was a rather ponderous story in today's NYT written by Deborah Sontag.

It was about the deep religious faith of the Hatians and said faith would help them get through. Also talked about Sunday services all over Port Au Prince in make shift churces.

Left unsaid that the official religion of Haiti is Catholic. Island is 80% Catholic.

I am always cynical of the Times. Could reporter be that uninformed or was the Catholic fact left out on purpose?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/americas/18church.html?hp

 

[Stitch]

I read what I thought was a rather ponderous story in today's NYT written by Deborah Sontag.

It was about the deep religious faith of the Hatians and said faith would help them get through. Also talked about Sunday services all over Port Au Prince in make shift churces.

Left unsaid that the official religion of Haiti is Catholic. Island is 80% Catholic.

I am always cynical of the Times. Could reporter be that uninformed or was the Catholic fact left out on purpose?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/americas/18church.html?hp

Voodoo is practiced alongside Catholicism by many.

 

[Boom_70]

I read what I thought was a rather ponderous story in today's NYT written by Deborah Sontag.

It was about the deep religious faith of the Hatians and said faith would help them get through. Also talked about Sunday services all over Port Au Prince in make shift churces.

Left unsaid that the official religion of Haiti is Catholic. Island is 80% Catholic.

I am always cynical of the Times. Could reporter be that uninformed or was the Catholic fact left out on purpose?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/americas/18church.html?hp

Voodoo is practiced alongside Catholicism by many.

Same as New Orleans.

 

[fishwrapper]

Same as in my house. 90-10 voodoo, tho.

 

[Blitz]

Good thread, 21.
If we are spending $600 billion a year on the wars, we will certainly drop some cash and other support toward Haiti after this quake.
It's the American way.
Journalists/media are covering it big in these opening weeks, but I expect it to be placed on the back burner by many outlets sooner than later.

 

[spud]

Journalists/media are covering it big in these opening weeks, but I expect it to be placed on the back burner by many outlets sooner than later.

But by the relentless news cycle go I...

 

[RickStain]

Haiti isn't large, isn't populous and was never rich. In the long run, rebuilding and improving shouldn't be that hard and the money they'll get from donations should be enough and then some.

The issue is the immediate suffering and the (lack of) infrastructure to help organize and distribute help. Money alone can't fix that.

 

[AgatePage]

In the long run, rebuilding and improving shouldn't be that hard and the money they'll get from donations should be enough and then some.

Please tell me you forgot the sarcasm font.

 

[shockey]

the underappreciated -- outside of joisey -- bob braun has been brilliant in haiti. today's example:

http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2010/01/a_father_in_haiti_works_to_fin.html

 

[gingerbread]

Emily Troutman is fast becoming one of my favorite reads, even though technically she is a photojournalist. She has a great eye for detail, and really makes the reader feel as if they are by her side.
I posted her first piece for AOL over on the Haiti thread. Here's her second:

http://www.sphere.com/world/article/essay-help-is-on-the-way-to-haiti-it-just-cant-get-there/19322459?ncid=webmaildl1

 

[printdust]

I read what I thought was a rather ponderous story in today's NYT written by Deborah Sontag.

It was about the deep religious faith of the Hatians and said faith would help them get through. Also talked about Sunday services all over Port Au Prince in make shift churces.

Left unsaid that the official religion of Haiti is Catholic. Island is 80% Catholic.

I am always cynical of the Times. Could reporter be that uninformed or was the Catholic fact left out on purpose?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/americas/18church.html?hp

I can't find the link now, but there was a story posted Monday on a Haiti newspaper (online) that said Haitian hoodoo priests were appealing to the government to take better care of the dead...hoodoo still practiced significantly in Haiti and part of the beliefs include the existence of zombies. I'm not kidding.

Proof:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G2DF20100117

 

[Boom_70]

Damien Cave of the NYT has written some of the most insightful and heartbreaking stories from Haiti.

Here is one about families leaving Port au Prince and going home to the countryside where they grew up.

One sense I've gotten from his work is how strong Haitian families are.

He paints a vivid picture of the peacefulness of the countryside compared to the ruins of Port au Prince.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/world/americas/21scene.html?hp

 

[Boom_70]

NYT story about the funeral for Archbishop Charles Benoit - Archbishop of Haiti.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/americas/24haiti.html

Again another story that leaves out fact that Bishop is Catholic .

Seems like a fairly important point.

 

[WaylonJennings]

NYT story about the funeral for Archbishop Charles Benoit - Archbishop of Haiti.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/americas/24haiti.html

Again another story that leaves out fact that Bishop is Catholic .

Seems like a fairly important point.

Isn't that understood?

 

[Babs]

Isn't that understood?

Agree. The only other denomination that has archbishops are Anglican/Episcopalian, which is an offshoot of Catholicism.

Just like if you said he was a Rabbi, I would assume he was Jewish. There's no need to say he's Jewish.

 

[Boom_70]

NYT story about the funeral for Archbishop Charles Benoit - Archbishop of Haiti.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/americas/24haiti.html

Again another story that leaves out fact that Bishop is Catholic .

Seems like a fairly important point.

Isn't that understood?

I don't think so. The Times leaves out an important part of story. Compare to story in Time Magazine:


With Archbishop's Death, Catholic Church is Hard-Pressed to Heal Haiti
By BOBBY GHOSH/PORT-AU-PRINCE Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010

The funeral service for the Bishop of Port au Prince Serge Miot outside the ruins of the Cathedral of Port au Prince in Port au Prince, Haiti, January, 23 2010. Bishop Miot and many parishoners were killed when the cathedral collapsed during the earthquake.



The loss of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, mourned on Saturday in a moving ceremony in front of Port-au-Prince's ruined cathedral, has hurt the Catholic Church's ability to respond to Haiti's devastating earthquake. The Cardinal and his Vicar General, Charles Benoit, were among the quakes victims now numbering in excess of 111,000. Dozens of churches, seminaries and other Church-run institutions have been flattened, and perhaps scores of priests killed or badly injured.

But for the mourners gathered at the forecourt of the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de l'Assumption for the funeral service, it is the death of Miot and Benoit that hurt the most. Many said that the Archbishop, regarded as a humble priest who sought to bridge the divide between the nation's Catholic clergy and Voodo priesthood, was exactly the kind of unifying figure Haiti needs in this crisis. "He could have brought us together," says Carrel Raphael, a bus driver. "He could have inspired us to work together. He had everybody's respect, and you need a leader like that." (See pictures of dramatic rescues.)

Roman Catholicism, once the country's principal religion, has lost a great deal of influence in the past few decades; these days, three in five Haitians call themselves Catholics, compared to 90% years ago. Miot is credited with reorganizing the Church after years of poor management by predecessors who strayed from their religious responsibilities and into Haitian politics. That, say admirers, would have allowed him to work closely with the beleaguered government of President Rene Preval, which could have used the help.

"He would have been able to guide the government in its response to the earthquake, and they would not have been suspicious of his intentions because they knew he was not interested in politics," said a senior priest who asked not to be named for fear of antagonizing the Preval administration. (Preval was at the funeral mass, but did not speak; he was booed by a handful of angry worshippers as his motorcade left the Cathedral.) (See TIME's exclusive photos of Haiti earthquake destruction.)

Catholic institutions, ranging from schools to Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity, are offering a range of relief services, including first-aid to food distribution and the protection of children orphaned by the quake. But the Church's efforts have been fitful, and poorly coordinated. Some at the funeral mass said their neighborhoods had not yet seen a priest or nun. "I haven't received any help from the Church, says Nicole Metier, who lives right by the Cathedral. "If the Archbishop had been alive, he would have taken care of us."

 

[fishhack2009]

The loss of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, mourned on Saturday in a moving ceremony in front of Port-au-Prince's ruined cathedral, has hurt the Catholic Church's ability to respond to Haiti's devastating earthquake.

I'd say that pretty much identifies him as Catholic.

 

[Boom_70]

Here is Washington Post version:

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 23, 2010; 6:45 PM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- Hundreds of the capital's Catholic faithful gathered Saturday to bury Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, killed with scores of parishioners when the Jan. 12 earthquake broke apart the cathedral where he worked and prayed.
This Story

For the service, wooden pews from the ruined church, where countless bodies remain entombed beneath pale pink rubble and shattered stained glass, were set out in the broad courtyard in front of the cathedral.

Amid blooming oleander bushes and the occasional pop of gunfire from the volatile business district nearby, politicians and diplomats, seminarians and novices prayed, sang and remembered Miot and Bishop Charles Benoit, the city's vicar general, who was also crushed to death in the quake. His body lay in a white casket, topped with a spray of bright flowers, next to the one holding the archbishop.

"If Monsignor Miot were alive, he would tell us to have courage, to be strong in starting over," said Marie-Andre Baril, 53, a bank teller whose home was destroyed in the quake.

"With my faith, I hope to have what he would want us to have. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here." The devout Catholic population of this city has lost the head of its church, a vivid example of one of the quake's cruelest outcomes. Many of those killed were the very people who, in times of tragedy, would be sought out for solace and explanation.