News site that covers Haitian-Americans faces scrutiny for coverage of Ohio debate

NEW YORK – Journalists at a news site that covers events in the Haitian community in the United States say they were harassed and intimidated with racist comments for reporting a false story about immigrants eating the pets of residents of an Ohio town.

An editor at the Haitian Times, a 25-year-old online publication, was “attacked” this week when police showed up at her home to investigate a false report of a grisly crime. The news outlet canceled a planned community forum in Springfield, Ohio, and blocked commenting on articles about it because of the threats and disgusting posts.

The Times, which commissioned the Committee to Protect Journalists to provide security training for its journalists in Haiti, has now asked for advice on how to protect its employees in the United States, said Garry Pierre-Pierre, its founder and publisher.

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

The website states that it has no intention of withdrawing

The Times debunked and aggressively reported on the fallout from a story about immigrants allegedly eating other Springfield residents’ dogs and cats when it was spread by Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Republican vice presidential candidate Donald Trump, and Trump himself in his debate with Democrat Kamala Harris.

Despite receiving hundreds of such messages, the site has no intention of backing down, said Pierre-Pierre, a former reporter for The New York Times, who echoed his former employer’s mission statement with his promise.

“We don’t want to hibernate,” he said. “We are taking the necessary precautions. But our first duty is to tell the truth without fear or favor, and we are not afraid.”

Pierre-Pierre, who emigrated to the United States in 1975, founded the Haitian Times to cover issues affecting first- and second-generation Haitians in the United States, as well as to report on what was happening back home. It began as a print daily, only going online in 2012, and now averages 10,000 to 15,000 visitors a day, although its readership has grown in recent weeks.

Macollvie Neel, a special projects editor in New York, was the employee whose door was knocked on by police on Monday.

It was sparked when a Haitian advocacy group received an email about the crime in Neel’s email address. They, in turn, notified police, who showed up to investigate. The instigators not only knew where Neel lived, but they covered their tracks by filing a report through another organization, she said.

Neel said she had a hunch something like this might happen, based on the hate mail she was receiving. But it’s still scary, especially since the police who responded weren’t familiar with the concept of doxxing, or following people online to harass them. She said police searched her home and then left.

She was always aware that journalism, by its nature, can make people unhappy with you. This takes the threat to a whole new level. The racist hate groups that are willing to exploit any issue are sophisticated and well-funded, she said.

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

They receive support

Katherine Jacobsen, program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, said this is a particularly egregious case of harassment of journalists in retaliation for their coverage of a story. “It’s outrageous,” she said. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation. And yet we are having it.”

Even before Springfield gained national attention in recent weeks, the Haitian Times was covering the influx of immigrants to the Midwest in search of work and a lower cost of living, Pierre-Pierre said. A Web article about Springfield describes how the turmoil “reflects America’s age-old struggle to keep the newcomers it desperately needs to survive.”

Another article on the site mentions the NAACP, Haitian-American groups and other activists from across the country who have come to the aid of Springfield residents caught up in this story.

Similarly, the Times heard from several other journalists—including Pierre-Pierre’s former employer—who offered support. “I am deeply moved,” he said.

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David Bauder covers media for AP. Follow him on http://x.com/dbauder.