When establishing our news bureaus, we purposely seek out communities across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean that exist in challenging media markets — places where censorship, government intervention or journalism job scarcity prevents crucial stories from being shared.
You don’t often see journalism from these places come across your news feed. And if you do, it’s likely during a moment of crisis. And because most media publishers haven’t invested in these communities, they’re forced to rely on parachute journalists — foreign correspondents who fly into a country on short-term assignments to report on a disaster. Too often, these correspondents, no matter how well meaning, lack the local insights to produce a truly representative, accurate account of the people and the place.
The expansion of our Haiti bureau is proof of the power and necessity of local reporting to shift stereotypes and elevate understanding. Our new reporters are in communities rarely covered by major publishers, but the stories they have access to bring nuance, perspective and insight to the complexities of Haiti — all of the things informed readers should demand from international journalism.
Here’s how we trained and recruited our new all-women Haitian reporting team — and moved beyond the limiting narratives of the Caribbean country in the process.
Shanté Cosme, Chief Content Officer
International reporting about Haiti is mostly focused on disasters: political assassinations; violent unrest in the capital, Port-au-Prince; earthquakes and hurricanes.
Coverage of these events by both national and global media outlets focused on breaking news has created and perpetuated rote narratives about the Caribbean nation.
That is not to say that their reporting is wholly inaccurate; the past three years have been eventful. In March 2020, nationwide lockdowns put pressure on an already weak health care system. In 2021, President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, and a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, followed days later by Tropical Storm Grace, devastated communities across the southern part of the country. In 2022, after a yearslong fuel crisis, Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced a fuel price hike, which resulted in road closures, limiting movement in and out of Port-au-Prince and other major cities.
But breaking news alone fails to give readers the bigger picture. Political unrest, for instance, is not the norm across the country. In recent years, Haiti’s second-largest city, Cap-Haïtien, has grown into an economic and cultural hub. Communities in the southwest of the country are adapting after road closures limited movement of essential goods from the capital. These are the kinds of stories we heard when we spoke with people from communities across Haiti — stories that show the impact of breaking news events and tell audiences more about the reality on the ground.
They are stories that can best be told by reporters from those same communities, with access to local sources.
We deliberately recruited women from outside Port-au-Prince to challenge the static coverage about Haiti and to provide local audiences outside the capital with a source of accurate and consequential news.
Starting this month, you can read stories from our newest Global Press reporters, based in Maniche in the South Department, Cap-Haïtien and Port-Margot in the North Department, and Port-de-Paix in the Northwest Department. Their reporting is essential for the global reader to have a fuller understanding of Haiti and for their communities to have access to stories that reflect the reality they live.
Sam Nesfield, Director of Global Expansion
Global Press trains and employs women journalists across the world. Since 2006, we have trained hundreds of women to become the storytellers of record from their communities. This Haiti cohort, who began their training in 2022 and graduated this spring, was the first to complete their training entirely online, thanks to the virtual training platform, GPI Online, that we built during the pandemic. Over the 12-week training, they completed weekly classroom work, which included self-guided learning and reflection assignments on GPI Online, and joined workshops on Zoom with the training team and members of the newsroom. The training program in Haiti was conducted in French and facilitated by professional translators and interpreters within the Global Press Accuracy Network, who were an integral part of the training process.
While they learned online, the reporters in training also completed field assignments to develop their real-world reporting and writing skills. The combination of activities in the training program is designed to create a reporter-first approach that allows them to learn and practice at their own pace, identifying unique local stories and sources that only they can access.
The training was not without its unforgettable moments, though. Hurricanes made landfall, political unrest spilled into the streets and reporters couldn’t leave their homes or find transport due to gang-patrolled roads. Connectivity was always a challenge too, but this bold team found unique solutions to each obstacle that came their way. And they told some amazing stories in the process.
Manori Wijesekera, Global Training Manager
Our Maniche-based graduate, Rose Hurguelle Point du jour, described the members of her community, nestled in the mountains of southern Haiti, as those who do not stand with “their arms folded.” All four reporters carried this sentiment throughout their training, facing every obstacle head-on and continually finding a way to complete their courses and develop their first stories for Global Press Journal.
Despite a lack of electricity — sometimes an everyday occurrence or a temporary glitch with no sign of resolution — poor internet connectivity, the threat of Tropical Storm Fiona, and roadblocks that often made navigating their home cities impossible, Rose, Verlande Cadet, Jusly Felix and Wyddiane Prophète managed to complete their training, graduate and join the Global Press Journal newsroom. Road closures also hampered efforts to equip our trainees with the tools they needed to work effectively; they didn’t receive cameras until the end of their training, prompting a program extension to allow them to complete their photojournalism studies.
Louise Scrivens, Editorial Coach for Haiti
The greatest challenge of any cross-culture training is quickly building a standard of mutual respect that breaks the student-teacher power dynamic and allows us to become collaborators. Trainees’ deep knowledge of their communities, culture, history and social dynamics is the core element of their great stories, so it is imperative that they are comfortable openly communicating what they know and what I may not know. Once that trust was established, I simply acted as a guide as they developed their photographic eyes.
Dominic Ronzo, Photo Editor for Haiti
Wyddiane Prophète
Wyddiane was living in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second largest city, in northern Haiti, when she was recruited to join Global Press. But road closures meant a trip to see family in Port-Margot left her unable to return. She set up home in the northern commune, where she remains, reporting from her new community.
The 26-year-old wanted to join Global Press for the national and global platform it provides to report on stories without the many stereotypes that often surround Haiti.
“Stories written about Haiti are often negative. I want to show the resilience of my people, who fight day after day in difficult conditions, hoping that one day they will make a difference,” she says. “We have so much to offer the world on a cultural, sustainable and historical level.” Wyddiane plans to focus on agricultural issues, which have always had a “fundamental place in the Haitian economy.”
Rose Hurguelle Point du jour
Rose is based in Maniche, a place that seldom receives coverage and has few journalists. She wants the world to know that her home is a peaceful commune where life is good despite the lack of infrastructure. The 36-year-old is an active member of her community and wants to use this deep understanding to share the stories of those around her, their struggles and “how they get back up.”
Rose is the only reporter in Maniche and wanted to join Global Press because she was inspired by the stories being told by our all-women team of reporters from all over the world.
Jusly Felix
Jusly, born and raised in Port-de-Paix, has a background in reporting but says Global Press has inspired her to look for stories that are different than the narratives delivered by other media outlets.
“I would especially like the world to know that my community is very vulnerable from an environmental point of view,” the 30-year-old says. “I would also like the world to know that my community has great potential for tourism.”
Verlande Cadet
Verlande enjoys focusing on the compelling stories of her community in Cap-Haïtien, on the northern coast of Haiti, particularly in the areas of education, culture and human rights. “I would like the world to know stories that reflect the values and uniqueness of my community,” the 26-year-old says.
