AP Journalist Needs to Verify Facts

The truth is rarely pure and simple wrote Oscar Wilde. Be that as it may, some people never made any effort at finding the truth and, to make matters worse, exhibited a pathological aversion to it. Though factual errors by journalists can be attributed to poor research, many are actually part of elaborate schemes to distort the truth or spread lies to targeted audiences. As this relates to Haiti, there has been a pattern in factual errors by the international media that cannot be attributed to poor research, as they are unbroken, premeditated and in clear contradiction with the truth. A dispatch by Trenton Daniel, an AP (Associated Press) writer, about the Haitian government’s effort to create economic opportunities in the outlying parts of the country as a way to lighten Port-au-Prince’s overcrowding epitomizes that attitude.
Elaborating on his research-poor analysis of the overcrowding, Trenton Daniel wrote “the capital city (Port-au-Prince) is one of the Caribbean's biggest, with about a third of Haiti's population, having swollen from 200.000 people a few decades ago to more than 3 million.” That is actually a factual error because as early as 1970, Port-au-Prince had an estimated population of 461.000 people. All things considered, the AP writer can be forgiven for that one. However, he has exhibited a blatant disregard for the truth when he authoritatively wrote “Part of the reason was that Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, the late dictator, shut down ports and tore up roads to undermine his opponents in the countryside. And, in the 1980s, new factories lured farmers to the city from fields where they were struggling to survive.” His amateurish analysis, superficial, preposterous and malicious, does not close to explain the truth.
For starters, his analysis has a profound implication and is in line with the widely accepted notion that the history of modern Haiti begins in 1957 A.D with the coming into power of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. It also perpetuates the notion of obscurantism and barbarism that best illustrates Haitian leaders’ psychological state from "Papa Doc" onward and validates the occupation of Haiti (2004-?) as a necessary endeavor to root out wickedness in the beleaguered country. The international community’s obsession with rooting out this perceived primitivism is such that invading in Haiti is considered a noble act on behalf of this civilization. Besides the illegal seizure of La Navase by US forces in 1891, Haiti was invaded three times, in 1915, 1994 and 2004, under the premise of it needing foreign help to overcome its primitiveness. The most insulting of these foreign adventures being the 1825 naval blockade and threat of invasion of Haiti following which the country was forced to compensate the French settlers for the loss of their properties and France, itself, in exchange for recognition of the world’s first black republic’s right to exist.
Because the main component of a good lie is a parcel of truth that can be twisted to that end, and the hollowness of Trenton Daniel’s assertion disqualifies it as a good lie, his analysis should appropriately be considered a poorly written propaganda piece. Anyone can argue that “Papa Doc” Duvalier did not do much for Haiti’s infrastructure and the reasons could be as abundant as the examples, but the claim that he deliberately destroyed the country’s roads to undermine his (political) opponents, as Trenton Daniel authoritatively wrote, is utterly irresponsible, absurd and inexcusable. Reviled by many for stated and unstated reasons, Papa Doc, who died on April 21st, 1971, is usually put in the same league with Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin, the 20th century’s most notorious tyrants, an utter nonsense that says a lot about his detractors.
Apparently, the AP writer was riding the anti-Papa Doc train when he decided to write his nonsense. Had Trenton Daniel gathered all the relevant facts, which include the economic embargo and the foreign-sponsored armed revolts Papa Doc had to confront during his 14-year presidency (1957-71), he might have come to his senses and a less unflattering conclusion. Yet, this is wishful thinking because he deliberately overlooked the IMF-imposed directives which were indubitably responsible for the destruction of the Haitian peasantry, the breakdown of social order and the ensuing mass exodus toward Port-au-Prince. As an AP writer, Trenton Daniel’s nonsense enters historical records not as a draft but as an accepted historical fact. Future graduate students, historians and researchers may use it in their thesis, books or academic pursuit, a reality that makes his nonsense all the more unacceptable.
This episode reminds me of an interview given the BBC by Paul E. Farmers, the Deputy UN Special Envoy for Haiti, in which the renowned anthropologist and physician enumerated all the contributory factors of the cholera epidemic in Haiti, except the documented fact that the disease originated with the MINUSTAH-attached Nepalese soldiers. Conspiracy theories aside, these are tangible proof of an elaborate pattern of lies, half-truths and imaginary tales that put into question the nature of the UN involvement in Haiti.
“History is a maiden, you can dress it as you like” said a Chinese proverb. I couldn’t agree more. Nonetheless, the adornment needs not be to make the maiden look unsophisticated or illusory. Trenton Daniel’s imaginary tale of roads destruction by Papa Doc for political purposes, far from being a factual error, is a direct assault on the Haitian character. He needs to retract it and apologize to his readers.