A U.S. news site that covers Haitian Americans is facing harassment

The sun rises over the city of Springfield, Ohio.

By David BauderAP Media Writer

Sept. 19, 2024 9:59 AM PT

NEW YORK — Journalists at a news site that covers the Haitian community in the United States say they’ve been harassed and intimidated with racist messages for covering a fake story about immigrants eating the pets of people in an Ohio town.

One editor at the Haitian Times, a 25-year-old online publication, was “swatted” this week with police turning up at her home to investigate a false report of a gruesome crime. The news site canceled a community forum it had planned for Springfield, Ohio, and has shut down public comments on its stories about the issue because of threats and vile posts.

The Haitian Times, which had the Committee to Protect Journalists conduct safety training for its journalists in Haiti, has now asked for advice on how to protect staff in the United States, said Garry Pierre-Pierre, founder and publisher.

“We’ve never faced anything like this,” Pierre-Pierre said Wednesday.

The Haitian Times has debunked and aggressively covered the aftermath of the story about immigrants supposedly eating the dogs and cats of other Springfield residents, as it was spread by Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Donald Trump’s Republican running mate in the presidential election, and Trump himself in his debate with Democrat Kamala Harris.

Despite receiving hundreds of these messages, the site isn’t backing down, said Pierre-Pierre, a former reporter at the New York Times who echoed a mission statement from his old employer in making that promise.

“We do not want to hibernate,” he said. “We’re taking the precautions that are necessary. But our first duty is to tell the truth without fear or favor, and we have no fear.”

Pierre-Pierre, who immigrated to the United States in 1975, started the Haitian Times to cover issues involving first- and second-generation Haitians in the United States, along with reporting on what is happening in their ancestral home. It started as a print publication that went online only in 2012 and now averages 10,000 to 15,000 visitors a day, although its readership has expanded in recent weeks.

Macollvie Neel, the New York-based special projects editor, was the staff member who had police officers show up at her doorstep on Monday.

It was triggered when a Haitian advocacy group received an email about a crime at Neel’s address. They, in turn, notified police who showed up to investigate. Not only did the instigators know where Neel lived, they covered their tracks by funneling the report through another organization, she said.

Neel said she had a premonition something like this might happen, based on hateful messages she received. But it’s still intimidating, made more so because the police who responded were not aware of the concept of doxxing, or tracing people online for the purpose of harassment. She said police searched her home and left.

She was always aware that journalism, by its nature, can make people unhappy with you. This takes the threat to an entirely new level. Racist hate groups who are ready to seize on any issue are sophisticated and well-funded, she said.

“This is a new form of domestic terrorism,” she said, “and we have to treat it as such.”

They’re receiving some backup

Katherine Jacobsen, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator, said it’s a particularly acute case of journalists being harassed in retaliation for their coverage of a story. “It’s outrageous,” she said. “We should not be having this conversation. Yet we are.”

Even before Springfield received national attention in recent weeks, the Haitian Times had been covering the influx of immigrants to the Midwest in search of jobs and a lower cost of living, Pierre-Pierre said. A story currently on its site about Springfield details how the furor “reflects America’s age-old battle with newcomers it desperately needs to survive.”

Another article on the site talks about the NAACP, Haitian American groups and other activists from across the country coming to the aid of Springfield residents caught in the middle of the story.

Similarly, the Haitian Times has heard from several other journalists — including from Pierre-Pierre’s old employer — who have offered support. “I’m deeply touched,” he said.

Bauder writes for the Associated Press.