12820: (More) editorial and factual legerdemain in the Haitian Times (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Michel DeGraff <degraff@MIT.EDU>


Dear all,

A couple of months ago, on 6/19/02, I sent to this list what I meant
as a constructive note, alerting readers to still-existing
double-standards about Haitian Creole orthography, as practiced (for
example) in the Haitian Times.  I think the note spoke for itself, and
there is no need to revisit the rather straightforward linguistic and
ideological issues I raised there.

But I now want to raise one issue of journalistic standards re the
"truth" in the Haitian Times.

In his recent column (on p6, in the issue dated August 7-13, 2002),
Hudes Desrameaux writes quite a few things re Creole orthography in
the Haitian Times, that I enthusiastically agree with, even though I
disagree when what he calls my "obnoxious" criticism---but here I am
totally biased, of course!  Be that as it may, my criticism was meant
constructively.  More generally, in the marketplace of ideas (e.g., in
academia) and elsewhere, honest criticism _is_ integral to progress,
and I do vigorously criticize issues related to what I care deeply
about, even if that means being "too" blunt for some.  A look at some
articles available on my web page will quickly document the style, the
the range and the goals of of my so called "obnoxious" critiques.

Now, here are the passages where Hudes Desrameaux's column seems to
fail basic editorial and journalistic criteria:

 "... DeGraff read Titosh's cartoon in Haitian Times.  You would think
 he would send first his letter to the Haitian Times editor.  No, the
 guy went to the Corbett list to publish his letter, an Internet
 operation that has nothing to do with Haitian Times or its editor
 Garry Pierre-Pierre.

 Somehow our editor stumbled on this letter in the Corbett list and
 published it along with Titosh's response.  Contacted by the paper,
 Degraff admitted that he intended to send the letter later to Haitian
 Times ..."

The argument in the first quoted paragraph seems peculiar, in light of
the fact that the Corbett list routinely posts criticisms related to a
variety of media---radio, tv, newspapers, books etc.  By and large,
readers, including Pierre-Pierre himself, seem to _not_ take issues
with these criticisms.  Yet these criticisms are posted (NB: not
"published") on the Corbett list, "an Internet operation that has
nothing to do with", say, the New York Times, the Washington Post, The
Guardian, Lynn Garrison's publishers, etc. (these are only a small
sample of publishers whose articles have recently been criticized on
the Corbett list).

Fortunately the Corbett list is not a press with copyrights and so on,
but a somewhat open-ended discussion list with the familiar rules that
our moderator tries to implement.  And my posting was all about having
people freely discuss, or at the very least privately reflect on, the
sort of orthographic double standards that many
publications---including, but certainly not limited to, the Haitian
Times--- still practice.

As of the statement in the second paragraph, it is patently false,
which is quite surprising on the part of a respectable newspaper.
Indeed the relevant (rather simple) facts can be easily documented via
a log of e-mail exchanges with the very editor of the Haitian Times:

To start with, it is absolutely false that "Degraff admitted that he
intended to send the letter later to Haitian Times".  In fact, it was
_never_ my intention to "send [my] letter later to Haitian Times".
And I made this clear to Garry Pierre-Pierre via e-mail.

Actually it is Pierre-Pierre himself who took the initiative to
contact me via e-mail on 6/20/02 to let me know that he would publish
my Corbett-list posting in the Haitian Times.  Back then, I made it
clear to him why I chose the Corbett list, and the Corbett list only,
to voice my concern about the Haitian Times orthographic
(mal)practice.  Below is a transcript of what I wrote to Pierre-Pierre
on 6/23/02, among other things.  This transcript, like my original
posting, speaks for itself, and I hope it will give the Haitian Times
and its readers a more accurate record of the "facts" and "behavior"
that are (mis)represented in Desrameaux's recent column.

[What follows is specifically in response to Pierre-Pierre's claiming
that "proper protocol" dictates that I should have first sent my
letter to the Haitian Times, not to the Corbett list. Pierre-Pierre's
"proper protocol" actually entails that every Corbett-list posting
that critiques a published piece should first be sent to the
publishers of the piece being critiqued!  Quite a "protocol", isn't it?]

> The Corbett list targets a vast array of people interested in
> Haiti-related issues, including issues of "proper protocol" about
> Haitian Creole orthography.  Besides, the Corbett list, because of
> its very nature (free and most easily forward-able), has a much
> larger potential reach than the _Haitian Times_.  Thus, my interest
> in alerting the larger set of Corbett-list readers to the kind of
> double standards that still exist about Haitian Creole orthography,
> even among well-meaning publications like the _Haitian Times_.
> Sadly enough, such double standards have scope beyond the _Haitian
> Times_, even if it's the latter that has now provided us with a
> recent and blatant example of said double standards.
>
> So, by writing to the Corbett list, I did want to address an audience
> must larger and more diverse that that of _Haitian Times_ readers.

....

> My concern has nothing to do with [Titosh] or with the _Haitian
> Times_ per se.  Again, my larger goal was to use [Titosh's] cartoons
> in the _Haitian Times_ as a "teaching moment" about how Haitian
> Creole is still (mis-)treated with quite im-proper protocol, even by
> those who should be in the know and who should be encouraging
> application of "proper [orthographic] protocols".
>
> My Corbett-list posting is part of a larger educational campaign.  And
> this is that campaign that defines my own "proper protocol".
>
> Since you brought up the issue of "proper protocol" re the _Haitian
> Times_: Let's now ask the following questions, keeping in mind the
> well-documented fact that Haitian Creole does have a standard
> orthography that's been made into law since 1980:
>
> + Has the _Haitian Times_ followed "proper protocol" in publishing
>   [Titosh's] cartoons with its careless anything-goes (aka tout voum se
>   dlo) Creole orthography?
>
> + If not, why not?
>
> + And why has "proper protocol" now become such an important issue in
>   our exchange---regarding the rather banal fact of my note to Corbett
>   list?
>
>  (NB: This is not the first time I've posted a note encouraging
>  people to learn more about Haitian Creole.)
>
> + How does my Corbett-list note compare with the fact that _Haitian
>   Times_ publishes Creole texts in a junk orthography while its French
>   and English texts are so polished?

                                 -michel.
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