Reporters from a news site covering the Haitian community in the United States say they have been harassed and threatened with racist messages after publishing a fake news story about immigrants eating people’s pets in an Ohio town.
One of the editors of The Haitian Times, a 25-year-old online publication, was the victim of a “swat” this week, when police descended on his home to investigate a false report of a gruesome crime. The news site canceled a planned community forum in Springfield, Ohio, and closed public comments on an article about the issue after receiving threats and vulgar posts.
The Haiti Times has engaged the Committee to Protect Journalists to provide safety training for its journalists in Haiti and is now seeking advice on how to protect its staff in the United States, said founder and publisher Garry Pierre Pierre.
“We’ve never faced anything like this,” Pierre Pierre said Wednesday.
The site says it won’t back down
The Haitian Times covered the aftermath of its coverage, debunking rumors that immigrants had eaten the dogs and cats of other Springfield residents, rumors spread by Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Donald Trump’s Republican running mate, and by Trump himself during a debate with Democrat Kamala Harris.
Despite receiving hundreds of such messages, the site isn’t backing down, said Pierre Pierre, a former New York Times reporter who reiterated his former employer’s mission statement in making the pledge.
“We are not going to hibernate,” he said. “We are taking the necessary precautions. But our first duty is to speak the truth without fear or prejudice. And we are not afraid.”
Pierre-Pierre, who immigrated to the United States in 1975, founded The Haitian Times to cover issues affecting first- and second-generation Haitians in the U.S. and what’s happening in their ancestral homeland. Originally published as a print publication, it went online in 2012 and now averages 10,000 to 15,000 visitors a day, though readership has been growing in recent weeks.
McColvey Neal, a New York-based special projects editor, was among the staff who had police show up at her doorstep on Monday.
The incident began when a Haitian aid organization received an email about a crime that had taken place at Neal’s address. They called the police, who rushed to investigate. Not only did the perpetrators know Neal’s address, but they also covered their tracks by leaking the tip to another organization, she said.
Neal said she had a hunch that something like this might happen because of the hateful messages she received, but was further scared when the police who responded were unfamiliar with the concept of doxxing – the practice of harassing people online – and that they searched her home and left, she said.
She said she’s always been aware that journalism, by its very nature, can be upsetting. This incident has taken that threat to a whole new level: Racist hate groups looking to exploit any issue are sophisticated and well-funded.
“This is a new form of domestic terrorism,” she said. “We have to treat it as such.”
They are receiving support
Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said this was a particularly severe case of journalists being harassed in retaliation for reporting. “It’s outrageous,” she said. “We shouldn’t be telling these stories, but here we are.”
Pierre-Pierre said that even before Springfield gained national attention in recent weeks, The Haitian Times had been reporting on immigrants flocking to the Midwest in search of jobs and a cheaper cost of living. A story about Springfield currently on the paper’s website detailed that the unrest “reflects America’s long-standing struggle with newcomers that the country desperately needs to survive.”
Another article on the site described how the NAACP, Haitian American groups and other activists from across the country rushed to the aid of Springfield residents caught in the crossfire.
Similarly, the Haitian Times has received offers of support from several other journalists, including Pierre Pierre’s former employer. “We were deeply touched,” he said.
Bauder is a contributor to The Associated Press.