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Tell Newsweek: Haiti Deserves Honest Media Coverage!
  1. Signatures
    167 out of 200
    Petitioning
    1. Articles Editor, Newsweek (+ 1 other)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Articles Editor, Newsweek (Andrew Bast)
      • Web Editor, Newsweek (Lennox Samuels)
  2. Created By
    Kim Borba
    Brooklyn, NY
About this Petition Petition Letter

Newsweeks recent article, "Haiti in a Time of Cholera,"  is the kind of sensationalized, predictable journalism that distorts the image of Haiti and Haitians to the rest of the globe.   

Every Haitian is not a stoic, suffering, simple noble savage.  Every foreigner in Port-au-Prince does not have to hide from the threat of violence behind the windows of an SUV.   Every neighborhood in Cite-Soleil is not dangerous and filthy.

Join us!  Write to the Editors of Newsweek.  Tell them you will not stand for this outdated brand of reporting in which Haiti is a frightening other-worldly place whose people scream and suffer, but do not speak for themselves. This perspective smacks of colonialism and racism.  Newsweek can do better.

Recent Signatures

"Haiti in a Time of Cholera" - Unjust Journalism

Greetings,

As journalists, you have the sacred responsibility of accurate, just reporting. Your recent article, "Haiti in a Time of Cholera," is the kind of sensationalized, predictable journalism that distorts the image of Haiti and Haitians to the rest of the globe.

Every Haitian is not a stoic, suffering, simple noble savage. Every foreigner in Port-au-Prince does not have to hide from the threat of violence behind the windows of an SUV or in the "relative safety" of downtown. Every neighborhood in Cite-Soleil is not dangerous and filthy.

We will not stand for this outdated brand of reporting in which Haiti is a frightening other-worldly place whose people scream and suffer, but do not speak for themselves. This perspective smacks of colonialism and racism. Newsweek can do better.

If you are serious about accurate, just reporting, you will reach out to Haitian grassroots news outlets and journalists living in Haiti who have first-hand knowledge of the myriad crises and the contexts in which they arise.

If you insist on sending your own journalists to Haiti, you will ensure that whomever you send has enough experience and journalistic and human integrity to investigate gross violations of human rights and dignity, such as the death of a Haitian woman at the hands of UN forces. You will not send someone who is "glad" they "don't understand Creole."

You will cover the nonviolent demonstrations that have increased since August and continue now.

You will investigate the recurring themes at these peaceful protests: rights abuses of IDPs, the preclusion of grassroots community groups in UN reconstruction decision-making, UN MINUSTAH occupation, impending unfair elections, delayed donor funds, and inadequacy of the cholera response.

You will not summarize the nation of Haiti with the words "the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere." Your readers already know this; they've read it countless times. They want to know why. You will offer them an historical explanation that chronicles the role that the United States, France and Canada have played in undermining democratic participation in Haiti.

At the very least, before you publish your next article on Haiti, you will read this:
http://www.mediahacker.org/2010/07/how-to-write-about-haiti/ and realize that another media is possible.

I look forward to your efforts.



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