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joe emersberger

RE: Haiti court drops charges against Jean-Juste

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/582018.html

Dear Jacqueline Charles:
This article on Jean-Juste's persecution at the hands of the US backed Latortue dictatorship does not convey what a flagrant act of political repression it was. Amnesty International strongly protested Jean-Juste's first arrest in 2004 and declared him a "prisoner of conscience" after his second arrest in 2005. It took an international campaign to get Latortue's regime to grant Jean-Juste "provisional freedom" to receive chemotherapy treatment in the US. His imprisonment was used to prevent him from running in the elections of 2006.These are all extremely important facts. Why did you not mention them?
Joe Emersberger

J. Charles replies

If you were to go back during that period you would find that I wrote countless articles - several of them on the front page - of jean-juste imprisonment. Given the amount of articles we wrote all of them could not go in the above article - where space is always limited. We were the first to report his arrest and we cotinued to cover the story up until this recent decision.

Ms. Charles
Thanks for replying.
You wrote a 750 word article. The information you omitted took up less than 60 words in my note to you. I can't see how lack of space can be a justification - or why readers should have to do an archive search to fill in the gaps left in the article.

It is particularly galling that the cynicism of Latortue's remark that he feels "happy" for Jean-Juste was not exposed. Latortue had every intention of leaving him to die of cancer in prison where he should have never have spent a single hour.

I hope that future articles of yours, especially if Jean-Juste runs for office - will find space to mention these things.

Joe Emersberger

J. Charles replies again

As I said newspapers operate on space and judgments are made accordingly. My job is not to advocate one side or another. This story was about the ruling and moving the story forward.

My (probably final) reply

The omissions you made shield Latorue (and his US backers) from accountability. That is advocating for one side whether you acknowledge it or not.

joe emersberger

RE: Thousands attend Little Haiti funeral for Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1085465.html?asset_id=Mourners%20remember%20Rev.%20Jean-Juste&asset_type=html_module

Dear Jacqueline Charles:

You wrote in this article that after Jean-Juste returned to Haiti

"Jean-Juste would continue his struggle in Haiti as a spiritual
leader, rabble-rouser and aspiring politician. His provocative methods
landed him in jail twice in Haiti. He was diagnosed with leukemia while in jail
in 2005.

''The jail time, the illness brought a lot of wisdom,'' Jean-Mary of
Notre Dame said. `'I wish he had developed it earlier. At the same time, you
have to respect his convictions. He was a fighter.''"

Father Jean-Juste was a political prisoner - imprisoned for several months
by a dictatorship the US government fully supported. He was immediately
recognized as a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International. The
charged were not dropped against him until June of 2008 because the Haitian
judiciary remains stacked with judges appointed by the Latortue dictatorship.

Jean-Juste was diagnosed with leukemia after Paul Farmer surreptitiously
obtained a blood sample and snuck it out of the prison. It took
international campaign to get the Latortue regime to issue a provisional release so
Jean-Juste could receive medical attention.

Please note that the two paragraphs abpve took up only 94 words.

Your article buries the grave nature of the injustice Jean-Juste suffered
- whitewashes the nature of the regime he was peacefully opposing and the
US role in propping it up and in bringing it to power. Your article also
suggests that Jean-Juste engaged in some foolish "provoctative methods" and
that the jail time improved his judgement. Is that what you intended?

Joe Emersberger

In a message dated 6/8/2009 8:03:40 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Joe thanks for your note. But it is not a matter of the number of words and if you are an astute reader of all things Jean-Juste then you would know that I am the only reporter in the intl media who documented his imprisonment (personally spoke to him as they were taking him to jail the first time) wrote about the intl pressure and his release (again we were at the airport) as well as paul farmer (sneaking into jail to obtain blood sample). Again just like I didn't repeat again other details like being suspended from the church, I didn't rewrite graphs I had written before because those who have been reading our coverage are not looking to keep reading the same thing. This is a man whom volumes can be written about - and they are more than 94 words.

Ms. Charles:
The "details" you omitted were among the most important. You and I had a similar exchange last year about a similar article.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/582018.html

In that one you made the same omissions and even allowed the cynicism of Latortue's remark that he felt "happy" for Jean-Juste after his aquittal to go unexposed. Latortue had every intention of leaving him to die of cancer in prison where he should have never have spent a single hour. At that time you argued that space limitations prevented you from mentioning the most important facts. Additionally, as I noted back then, "readers should have to do an archive search to fill in the gaps left in the article."

Your latest article did even worse than omit the most important facts but even suggested that Jean-Juste's imprisonment resulted from foolish and "provocative" acts and that the jail time taught him a lesson. Again I ask, was that your intention?

By the way, I've looked over your articles over the past five years that mentioned Jean-Juste. None of them exposed the utterly baseless and politically motivated nature of the charges against him.

Joe Emersberger

In a message dated 6/8/2009 1:16:41 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
I am not an opinion writer. If you have problems with the articles feel free to take them up with my bosses. [email protected]

My reply (copied to her boss)

Is it an "opinion" that Jean-Juste was imprisoned for months because of baseless and politically motivated charges? Was it your intention to suggest that Jean-Juste's imprisonment resulted from foolish and "provocative" acts and that the jail time taught him a lesson?

Please publish this exchange in your newspaper.

Joe Emersberger

joe emersberger

READ from BOTTOM UP

Thanks for your reply Ms. Charles
I actually used your search engine and couldn't find an article that says that CEPR did a detailed analysis of the leaked OAS report. I did find the following article that mentions some of CEPR's objections to the recent election.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/29/1948565/as-protests-swell-international.html

Is that the one you had in mind?

I read widely on Haiti and don't scour all the articles in any particular newspaper available online. I doubt very many people do - regardless of their interest level on Haiti. That's a good reason to ensure none of the articles are as one sided as they one you wrote.

There are powerful counter aruguments to the OAS report - and the US stance on the elections. Why should ANY article ignore them?

Joe Emersberger

---- Original Message ----
From: Charles, Jacqueline - Miami
To: '[email protected]'
Cc: Yearwood, John - Miami
Sent: Mon, Jan 24, 2011 1:47 pm
Subject: Re: RE Haiti's Préval under pressure to schedule runoff election

I've been reporting on this story from the begging and as an interested reader I'm sure you realized that we've discussed the cepr report - which is not before haitian electoral officials today. All they have is the OAS report.
Jacqueline Charles
Caribbean Correspondent
Miami Herald

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 01:44 PM
To: Charles, Jacqueline - Miami
Cc: Yearwood, John - Miami
Subject: RE Haiti's Préval under pressure to schedule runoff election

RE Haiti's Préval under pressure to schedule runoff election

Dear Jacqueline Charles
Your article does not convey the crucial fact that the OAS and Washington are trying to change the results of an election without a recount. The Centre for Economic and Policy research (CEPR) did a detailed analysis of the leaked OAS report on Haiti’s election. Readers do not learn from your article that

1) Nearly 75% of the Haitian electorate did not turnout to vote
2) The OAS methodology was not statistically sound and its conclusion – a margin of difference between Martelly and Celestin of 0.3 percent (3200 votes) is too small to statistically distinguish. Missing or quarantined ballot sheets alone represented about 156,000 votes.

CEPR’s arguments are summarized in this article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/18/haiti-usa

You described Preval as “stubborn” for resisting US efforts. If you had informed readers of the facts then I’m sure many would conclude the US and its allies (whom you oddly refer to as the “international community”) appear stubborn and contemptuous of democracy.

Joe Emersberger