(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the 28 October 2003 shooting attack on an independent radio station in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the threats that forced a provincial radio station to suspend its news programming the previous day. The organisation called on the government to protect journalists and carry out investigations to determine who was responsible […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the 28 October 2003 shooting attack on an independent radio station in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the threats that forced a provincial radio station to suspend its news programming the previous day. The organisation called on the government to protect journalists and carry out investigations to determine who was responsible for these acts.
“Once again we ask the Haitian authorities to put an end to the impunity enjoyed by those who attack the news media,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said. “It is especially worrying that this latest violence follows verbal attacks on the press by government officials and supporters,” he said.
On 28 October, gunmen with automatic weapons opened fire on the premises of privately-owned Radio Caraïbes, causing considerable damage to the building’s facade and to a car belonging to sports reporter Harold Domond. No one was hurt. Witnesses said the gunmen were in a car with official licence plates. News editor Jean-Elie Moléus told Agence France-Presse that Radio Caraïbes often received threats. After the attack, the station decided to suspend its broadcasts for a brief period.
Radio Maxima, a privately-owned station in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, suspended its news programming on 27 October after receiving threats from individuals with close ties to the government, according to station management. The station’s director, Jean Robert Lalanne, is a local leader of the opposition, which has been calling for President Aristide’s departure for the past year.
A report posted on the website of the independent Radio Métropole on 22 October said government criticism of the press has been mounting in recent weeks. The report quoted remarks made the previous day by Prime Minister Yvon Neptune implying that the press do not report the news accurately.
In RSF’s worldwide ranking of 166 countries according to respect for press freedom, released on 20 October, Haiti was placed in 100th position, among the lowest in the western hemisphere. Journalists working for independent news media are often threatened or physically attacked. Since 2000, some 30 journalists have gone into exile and two have been killed. Jean Dominique, the director of Radio Haïti Inter, was killed on 3 April 2000 (see IFEX alerts of 2 September, 4 April, 26 and 19 March and 26 February 2003, 28 June, 22 and 2 April, 4 February, 25, 15 and 4 January 2002 and others) and Brignol Lindor of Radio Echo 2000 was murdered on 3 December 2001 (see alerts of 2 September 2003, 5 December, 25 and 16 September, 2 April and 15 January 2002, 11, 5 and 4 December 2001).
