22811: (Chamberlain) Haiti press freedom at risk after Aristide - CPJ (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     MIAMI, July 29 (Reuters) - Press freedom remains precarious in Haiti
five months after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in an armed
revolt but the targets of attack and intimidation have changed, a
journalists' watchdog group said.
     Prior to Aristide's ouster, attacks on journalists or radio stations
were mainly directed at media considered to be antagonistic toward
Aristide, but now reporters viewed as sympathetic to the former leader are
at risk, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said.
     In a report issued this week, the watchdog said that at least three
pro-Aristide journalists have been illegally detained, a media outlet
shuttered, and another forced to suspend news broadcasts. A number of
journalists have gone into hiding since Aristide fled on Feb. 29.
     The situation was particularly "acute" outside the capital
Port-au-Prince where armed rebels still hold sway and where neither the
shambolic police force nor a U.N. peacekeeping force have established their
authority.
     "While the targets of attacks may have changed ... Haitian journalists
will never be able to pursue their work freely until all of them can work
without the threat of violence," the report said.
     Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest who championed the Caribbean
country's poor masses, was forced into exile after a month-long revolt by
street gangs, former soldiers and ex-leaders of right-wing death squads.
     He also faced strong opposition from business leaders, political
rivals and the United States, which accused him of corruption and of
becoming increasingly dictatorial.
     In the months before the revolt, Aristide supporters frequently
attacked reporters working for private media that was critical of him. Some
journalists, such as Jean Dominique, were assassinated. The tables have now
turned, said CPJ.