26232: Arthur (published) chapter on Jean Dominique in new book (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

Silenced: International Journalists Expose Media Censorship

Edited by David Dadge

http://www.prometheusbooks.com

âThis hard-hitting collection shows that pressure and persecution are still
inescapable aspects of a journalist's job description ... a vigorous defense of
press freedoms by journalists who are unafraid to confront the powers that
be.â - Publishers Weekly

PAGES: 295 pp
ISBN: 1-59102-305-X
BINDING: Hardcover
PRICE: $26


> From the editor's introduction:

Telling a story he knows well, journalist and consultant for the Haiti
Support Group, Charles Arthur, writes about the murder of Jean Dominique outside his
Haitian radio station. Arthur describes the unwillingness of the police to
find the perpetrators and the failed attempt to assassinate Dominique's wife.



Extract from Chapter 14: Walking the Tightrope (pp 273-293) by Charles Arthur

The post-Duvalier era of increased media freedom had been baptized in Creole:
baboukÃt-la tombe! (the muzzle is off!), but the military coup d'Ãtat of
September 30 1991 put it firmly back on. President Aristide fled into exile, and
the media, and the radio stations in particular, were the military's first
targets.

For Radio Haiti Inter, the "glorious years" were over. "One week after the
coup, they shot us up again", said Dominique. "On October 2, I interviewed the
exiled President who was in Washington. One hour later they came, shooting in
broad daylight. On October 15, I decided to stop broadcasting after they came
to my home during the night." Once again the station was closed down, and
Dominique was forced into exile, not to return until US troops intervened to
restore the constitutional government three years later.

Rebuilding the station for a third time, Dominique and Montas took up where
they had been forced to leave off. Their Inter-ActualitiÃs program again became
one of the most popular morning shows. Montas read the national news, while
Dominique wrote and read editorials and commentaries that included fiery
tirades against corrupt politicians and businessmen. Dominique and his team of
journalists also specialized in the sort of investigative reporting that was, and
still is, all too rare in Haiti. Whereas other stations focused almost entirely
on news about the government and events in the capital, Radio Haiti Inter
would investigate and report on stories and issues relevant to ordinary people,
particularly to peasants and the inhabitants of small towns. For example, if a
peasant organization occupied idle farmland, Radio Haiti Inter would send a
reporter. The same would happen with allegations of corruption in the
Organization for the Development of the Artibonite Valley, or complaints that the flood
of imported rice from the US was forcing down local rice prices. When, in
1999, peasants in the LÃogÃne region started falling ill after drinking alcohol
laced with ethanol, Dominique spearheaded a high-profile investigation and
public information campaign warning of the dangers of mixing industrial spirits
with homemade rum, and warning off the unscrupulous businessmen profiting from
the distribution of ethanol for this purpose.

Such reports made Dominique extremely popular with ordinary people throughout
Haiti, especially among peasants in the countryside. He saw such an approach
to news-gathering and broadcasting as a part of a clear political position,
saying, "We are fighting for popular participation. We are against exclusion,
because the majority of people in this country are excluded from political
life."

Over three decades, Dominique's distinctive voice, probing interviews and
scathing commentaries were broadcast over the airwaves and had become part of
daily life. His particularly politicized form of campaigning journalism had
transformed the medium of radio, and made it a vital tool for the sharing of ideas
and information. At the same time, his commitment to the idea of social
inclusion and participatory democracy had help energize and mobilize a movement that
had brought an end to a 29-year dictatorship and developed the potential to
transform the nation. In the face of repeated violence and threats, and despite
two periods of exile, he had refused to be intimidated or silenced. For all
these reasons, and more, the murder of Jean Dominique in April 2000 was deeply
shocking for the people of Haiti. But perhaps most shocking of all was the
fact that, after surviving all through dictatorships, military coups, and attacks
on the station he had built, Dominique was shot down just as it appeared that
the transition to democracy in Haiti had finally been achieved.

In early 1995, the reinstalled President Aristide had disbanded the Haitian
Army, and a new police force run by the Ministry of Justice was in the process
of being built. Parliamentary and presidential elections were successfully
held, and the first peaceful transfer of political power in Haitian history took
place when Renà PrÃval succeeded Aristide as president in February 1996. For
all those Haitians who hoped that the country had finally turned a corner and
would at last enjoy some stability and a chance to prosper, Dominique's murder
was hard to comprehend. Marleine Bastien, president of the advocacy group,
Haitian Women of Miami, gave an idea of its impact when she told The Miami
Herald, "Haitians in the United States have always thought about when we could
return to Haiti. But the murder of Jean Dominique makes us think only about how to
get our families out."

Compounding the sense of unease was the difficulty in identifying the
probable culprits for the murder. Dominique's widow, MichÃle Montas, articulated
these thoughts when she noted that in the past the threat would obviously have
come from the Duvaliers and the military leaders who followed. "Then it was much
easier to find out who the enemy was. Now, you don't know. It's very difficult
to determine who's who." (end of extract)



About Silenced: International Journalists Expose Media Censorship - Edited by
David Dadge

What happens to journalists who expose uncomfortable truths? How far are
journalists prepared to go in order to report a difficult story? Silenced provides
answers to these questions with the stories of journalists who risked their
careers so that the public might be informed.

> From China, where Jasper Becker, formerly Beijing bureau chief of the South
China Morning Post, fought a lonely and unsuccessful battle against owners
willing to soften the newspaper's reporting of the Chinese government in the hope
of protecting mainland investments, to Zimbabwe where the harsh treatment of
the Guardianâs Andrew Meldrum led to him being arrested and forcibly deported
from the country because he dared criticize President Robert Mugabe, Silenced
is a forcible reminder of the risks â both personal and financial â accepted
by the media on our behalf.

Elsewhere, in other parts of the world, journalists face more traditional
problems, whether it is the pressure placed on journalists Gary Hughes and Gerard
Ryle when highlighting police corruption in Australia, or the aggressive
tactics employed by the Belgian authorities against Stern magazine's Hans-Martin
Tillack for exposing a financial scandal at the heart of the European Union.

When faced with the threat of censorship, all of these journalists reacted in
a similar manner â they chose to report and face the consequences. They
decided to place the ethics of journalism above all other considerations. As such
they are proof that press freedom cannot exist without those who are willing to
uphold its fundamental principals.

Silenced is more than a book on the media; it is an expression of the bravery
and persistence of journalists everywhere.

David Dadge (Vienna, Austria), editor at the International Press Institute,
is the author of Casualty of War: The Bush Administrationâs Assault on a Free
Press. He writes frequently on the media and freedom of the press.