CounterSpin on Haiti

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The CounterSpin radio program produced by the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting center (FAIR) recently carried an interview with Bill Fletcher, former President of the TransAfrica Forum and executive editor of the Black Commentator. Mr. Fletcher took on the omissions in media reporting of the crisis in Haiti:

CS: Well, as we've watched the news from Haiti unfold, U.S. commentators have frequently mentioned that, even before the earthquake, that in terms of civic order and economics, Haiti was in tough shape. This is often mentioned in the context of explaining how relief efforts may be hindered by the lack of infrastructure, corruption, and so on. Perhaps deep history is too much to expect from the networks, especially at this early point, but what should listeners know about how Haiti's economy and civil life got where it is today?

BF: One of the reasons, I think, that this is critically important to look at history is that the problem in the absence of history, is that people tend to then look at Haiti as a basket case . They look at it as pathetic, as opposed to understanding that Haiti today is a direct result of the policies of the United States and France, that go back to when Haiti achieved independence from France in 1804. I mean, if you don't get that, if you don't understand that the United States blockaded Haiti until 1862, that the French demanded that the Haitians pay reparations to France for the loss of the slaves as a result of the Haitian revolution, from the 1820s until 1947; if you don't get that the United States occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934; if you don't get that the United States backed, systematically, repressive regimes in Haiti, the most notorious being Papa Doc Duvalier; if you don't get that the United States was directly implicated in overthrowing President Aristide in 1991; you can't understand how Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the poorest on the planet. So the destruction of Haiti through outside interference, the ecological devastation that has taken place, because people burn down trees in order to convert burnt wood into charcoal, in order for them to sell to live. These are the--this is what life is like in Haiti. Eighty percent are living below the poverty line. So the mainstream media, by ignoring this broader context, ends up painting this picture of a pathetic population, as opposed to a population whose main crime was living on an island that is that close to the United States.

CS: Well on the first big night of coverage, January 13th, I watched NBC's Brian Williams explain how hard it is for Americans to understand just how poor Haiti is. And it made me think, well, isn't that your job? If it's so remarkable, shouldn't NBC and other major outlets have been providing ongoing coverage of this?

BF: Well that's certainly what they should have been doing. And what's interesting is that--I contrast major media outlets in the United States with Al Jazeera. I mean, if I want more in-depth news, I'll look at Al Jazeera, I'll look at BBC. I mean, when you look at the mainstream U.S. news, you get no in-depth analysis as to what's going on. And you're absolutely right, NBC should've been providing the background, not just showing a picture of Haiti, or showing a picture of the suffering people, but giving the viewer an idea as to how it is that they've come into the situation. Because the level of poverty, the lack of infrastructure, the fact that there was a coup in 2004 that overthrew, for the second time, President Aristide , and that the United States was again directly implicated in that coup, these things help us understand the state of Haiti as it is. And so what we also have to get is that, while there's emergency relief that's absolutely necessary, that Haiti fundamentally needs the equivalent of a Marshall Plan. It needs massive re-development that goes beyond the devastation that's taken place in the aftermath of the earthquake.

The rest of the interview is here: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3997

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