Michael Deibert , Haiti , and Right Wing Journalism

We here at the HaitiAnalysis kolektif feel it is important to remind our brothers and sisters of the manipulative media reports that have targeted Haiti over the years. One of the most dishonest corporate media journalists to write on Haiti has been former Reuters correspondent Michael Deibert. [1]

Whitewashing the Bush regime orchestrated 2004 coup d'état in Haiti and the preceding U.S. backed-destabilization campaign, Michael Deibert's writings often have functioned to demonize grassroots movements in the country while passing over the crimes of U.S. (and local rightwing) backed groups. In the wake of the coup, Deibert, in his reporting, ignored the mass state violence unleashed on poor communities in Port-au-Prince. The coup d'état and its aftermath resulted in many thousands of deaths and a long period of repression under the unelected Latortue dictatorship. The years that followed resulted in large-scale voter suppression, a major decline in voter participation, and the re-emergence of the nation's rightwing as a political force in the country.

Below are links to a number of articles criticizing his work over the years. Also included below is a criticism of Michael Deibert's 2005 book by the late Haitian pro-democracy activist Patrick Elie.

Justin Podur, Ph.D. 2006. "Kofi Annan's Haiti". New Left Review. https://newleftreview.org/II/37/justin-podur-kofi-annan-s-haiti

Justin Podur, Ph.D. 2006. "A Dishonest Case for a Coup". Znet.

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/a-dishonest-case-for-a-coup-by-justin-podur/

Patrick Elie. 2006. "A Few Notes about 'Notes from the Last Testament'". Indy Bay. https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/03/23/18101941.php?show_comments=1 

Mark Weisbrot, Ph.D. CEPR. 2006. “Weisbrot replies” The Nation. 

https://www.thenation.com/article/letters-122/

Diana Barahona. 2007. "U.S. Reporting on the Coup in Haiti: How to Turn a Priest into a Cannibal". Counterpunch. http://www.counterpunch.org/2007/02/03/how-to-turn-a-priest-into-a-cannibal/ 

Tom Luce. 2007. "The Proxy War in Martisant and Gran Ravine". HaitiAnalysis. http://web.archive.org/web/20100501175220/http://www.haitianalysis.com/human-rights/the-proxy-war-in-martissant-and-gran-ravine 

Jeb Sprague-Silgado, Ph.D. 2007. Discusses Deibert's manipulative reporting on Martissant and Gran Ravine in Port-au-Prince: "Chief of Lame Ti Manchet Reportedly Escapes to Dominican Republic" Narco News

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/jeb-sprague/2007/02/chief-lame-ti-manchet-reportedly-escapes-dominican-republic

Peter Hallward, Ph.D. 2008. "Response to Michael Deibert's Review of Damming the Flood". Monthly Review Zine.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2008/hallward170408.html

Kim Ives. 2009. “Michael Deibert and Elizabeth Eames Roebling Attack IPS Journalists Writing on Haiti”. http://wadnerpierre.blogspot.com/2009/08/michael-deibert-and-elizabeth-eames.html 

Jeb Sprague-Silgado, Ph.D. 2011. “On Martissant, Gran Ravine, and Missing the Proportionality and Chief Sources of Political Violence”

http://jebsprague.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-martissant-gran-ravine-and-missing.html

Joe Emersberger. 2011. "Exchange between Michael Deibert and Joe Emersberger Regarding Haiti" Haiti Analysis. http://haitianalysis.blogspot.com/2011/09/2011-exchange-between-michael-deibert.html

Dominique Esser. 2012 “Haiti and the Media - The Gangs of the Fourth Estate” HaitiAnalysis. https://haitianalysis.blogspot.com/2012/03/media-and-haiti-or-why-you-cant-always.html

Joe Emersberger. 2013. “How Fitting That Michael Deibert Lauds Rory Carroll’s book about Hugo Chavez” HaitiAnalysis.   http://haitianalysis.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-fitting-that-michael-deibert-lauds.html

Notes

[1] Michael Deibert also served formerly as a writer for IPS (Inter Press Service), but was removed from the IPS team covering Haiti in late 2009 after he launched verbal tirades on the internet insulting the English language skills of Haitian grassroots author and photographer  (and IPS contributor) Wadner Pierre.