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Program NewsInternews Produces Humanitarian Broadcast in Haiti
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Jennifer Glasse/Internews
Journalist Johnny Cesar Etienne and producer Frederick Alexis in front of the destroyed Radio Magic 9 station. |
(January 22, 2010) Local radio stations in Haiti aired a Creole-language humanitarian information broadcast produced by Internews yesterday in collaboration with a growing alliance of humanitarian aid and media assistance providers.
The program, Nouvelles-Utiles (News You Can Use) will be produced daily and distributed to local radio stations, which are eager to air it.
Thursday’s program included stories refuting rumors that there was an imposed curfew in Port-au-Prince, and notice of water distribution locations, bank re-openings, and waste management services. Information from the Red Cross discouraged hasty and uncoordinated disposal of bodies, and dispelled rumors that dead bodies cause disease.
Listen to the first broadcast of Nouvelles-Utiles (Creole):
Local journalists reported the stories in the broadcast with support from Internews team member Yves Colon, a Haitian journalist with more than 20 years of experience at publications including the Miami Herald and current Journalism lecturer atthe University of Miami.
Internews staff in Haiti produced the program and distributed it on CD to 11 stations. More stations will be added as they return to broadcasting.
Stations airing the program include Radio Signal, a popular Port-au-Prince station that never stopped broadcasting, even during the earthquake, Radio ONE, the only independent radio station with national reach, and Radio National, Haiti’s state broadcaster.
An Internews team of media specialists and radio technicians has been in Haiti since the earthquake to assess damage to media infrastructure and support local media. Internews is a founding member of the Inter-Agency Group on Communicating with Disaster Affected Populations (CDAC) that includes UN OCHA, key relief agencies, including the Red Cross and Save the Children, and other media assistance providers, such as the BBC World Service Trust, the Thomson Reuters Foundation and IMS. UNOCHA has charged Internews as the lead on the ground to coordinate CDAC members’ humanitarian information and media assistance activities in order to achieve maximum impact across the nation’s ravaged media landscape.
Along with daily programming production, Internews is providing broadcasting equipment and will soon distribute wind-up radio sets provided by the US Government through local radio stations.
Internews is able to deploy its team with generous support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and other donors.
Listen to other Nouvelles-Utiles programs.
Help Get Lifesaving Information to Earthquake Victims in Haiti
Help Get Lifesaving Information to Earthquake Victims in Haiti
