12117: Help Journalists to Not give Haiti a bad reputation Re: 12103: Haiti-Polio (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Haldor Noss <hbnoss@worldnet.att.net>

At 12:32 PM 5/21/02 -0500, you wrote: (EDITED DOWN to basic statement by
Hal Noss)
  By MICHAEL NORTON

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 20 (AP) -- Shaken by a recent deadly polio outbreak
in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, (edited)... Patients receiving the
vaccine develop a mild form of polio resulting in immunity. Researchers
said the outbreak occurred when nonimmunized children came in contact with
children who received the oral vaccine in 1998-1999.

Greetings,
I thank all health care workers worldwide, journalists who write about
Haiti, and all who help in Haiti.
In searching for real solutions I have edited the article above to basic
statements.
	I strongly recommend that those who are able to help journalists help them
to see and report with accuracy.  I am grieved by Headlines reporting a
"recent deadly Polio outbreak in Haiti" when the fine print and Haitian
doctors I've spoken to say that the "outbreak" may have been caused by the
immunization process it's self.  As far as I can tell (no medical education
but with extensive life experience in 2nd. (USA) and 3rd Worlds), medical
workers immunized children in an area where there had not been any recent
polio--and AFTER the immunizations, THEN they found Polio.  This is very
different from the headline which is written in Bold letters saying "Deadly
Polio outbreak in Haiti."  Furthermore, some have suggested that the
"outbreak" which might well have been caused by the immunization process
it's self started in the Dominican Republic and spread to Haiti.  The
problem with reporting is that it often makes someone or somewhere look
bad--and if the reporting is inaccurate or incomplete then it may make the
wrong person or place look bad.  The very words "Haiti-Polio" might help
health aid monies reach Haiti, but they might also make people who can
bring aid or monies to Haiti to think twice about going there.
	Years ago, when I mentioned to someone in the USA that I was going to
Haiti, the American cautioned me with the words "they have a lot of Aids
there," and expressed a feeling that if I go to Haiti this disease might
jump out of the ground and kill me.  Over the years I have concluded that
there is Aids in Haiti, just like there is Aids in the USA and in Canada
and in Great Britain, but the concept that there is significantly more Aids
in Haiti than anywhere else is a questionable concept fueled by
journalists.  I admit that I have not taken the time to sift through
journalism reports about Aids in Haiti, but I have been informed that when
Haiti first started getting the bad reputation about having "a lot of Aids"
there was a significant amount of data that was wrongly interpreted and
wrongly expressed by journalists--and one result was that Haiti looked much
worse in the news than was true.  I understand that news about diseases
might help health workers obtain funding for health work that really does
save many lives, but bad reporting about bad diseases can also do serious
damage.  "Aids" is an incredible stigma to bear, and if a journalist
misunderstands and misrepresents data which announces that there is twice
as much Aids as there really is, then the journalist has also announced
twice as much stigma for others to bear.  Unless someone can show me
otherwise, I believe that the "Haiti-Aids" articles have helped to create
an illegitimate bad reputation for a Nation and a people that don't need or
deserve the bad rap.
	Bad reputations created by inaccurate journalism do not have to be
complicated or earth-shattering either.  Before one of my trips to Haiti I
scanned news articles to update myself on current events in Haiti.  I found
an article about "the current wave of violence in the streets," so I made a
mental note that some journalist from the USA felt there was such a
significant increase in  violence in the streets of Haiti that she could
write an article with a big bold headline about "the current wave of street
violence and crime."  I had an absolutely wonderful and worry free trip to
Haiti, and finding no more violence or street crime in Port au Prince than
is usual (and some crime IS usual in every large city including NY,
Chicago, Washington DC), I asked about "the wave of street crime" that I
had read about.  "Yes there is some crime" were the replies "but no more
than the usual."  I concluded that some American journalist had visited
Haiti and needed to write an article so they created something out of
nothing to get published--and gave Haiti more of a bad reputation.  Maybe
the journalist was a tenderfoot and thought they were reporting the
truth?  Maybe the journalist fell victim of some sort of street crime or
violence?  Whatever the case may be, that article might have helped ten
foreign travellers, each willing to spend one thousand dollars for ten
thousand dollars total--stay OUT of Haiti and spend their money in a
country that hadn't been given a bad reputation by inaccurate
reporting.  With regards to petty street crime, if you are an American with
a job, then I will beg you to hold back your anger if you get pick-pocketed
by a barefoot kid in a third world country.  Chances are that you will
survive being pick-pocketed and will go back to your salary while that
barefoot kid goes back to a life that few of us with computers could
survive.  The sad fact is, the barefoot thief in the third world probably
needs what he stole much more than you do, and if he had other options he
most likely would not be a thief.
	I thank journalists for reporting, and urge you to report as accurately as
possible.  In so many ways, the 1st and 2nd worlds control the third world
today, so if you report news about the third world to the 1st and 2nd
worlds--your reporting might have a strong effect on the third world.  If
YOU have an opportunity to share with a journalist, I strongly urge you to
help the journalists to see and report with accuracy.  Professional
journalists might have to report something to keep their job, whether they
understand what they write about or not.  Please help them to understand
Haiti & write accurately.

With honor and respect,
Hal Noss
Photographer