[Peace-discuss] Corrupt US media in Haiti

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The AP has a lot to answer for in the Middle East. This
article from Flashpoints Radio (Berkeley) shows the same is
true in Haiti. It also discusses the nefarious work of the
NED. --CGE]

  Denial in Haiti:
  AP reporter RéGINE is wearing two hats
  December 29, 2005
  by Anthony Fenton and Dennis Bernstein

Has the Associated Press and
the New York Times gone to bed
with the National Endowment for Democracy?

ORIGINAL ARTICLE UPDATED: 12/30/05 12:30 PM PST

A by-lined freelancer for the Associated Press, who is also a
stringer for the New York Times in Haiti, is moonlighting as a
consultant for the US Government funded National Endowment for
Democracy, according to an official at the NED, and several of
the agency's grantees.

NED is funded annually by grants from the US Congress and
State Department, with a 2006 global budget of $80 million, an
increase of $20 million from 2005. For years the group has
played a controversial role -- with lopsided funding of
elections in foreign countries -- in promoting pro-US
candidates and policies friendly to US interests. Most
recently, the NED has been accused of attempting to
destabilize the Venezuelan government.

Regine Alexandre, whose name appears as an AP by-line at least
a dozen times starting in May of 2004, and appears as a
contributor to two NY Times stories, is a part of an NED
"experiment" to place a representative on the ground in
countries where the NED has funded groups.

"This is almost like an experiment for us," said Fabiola
Cordova, a Haiti program officer with the NED in Washington
D.C. on December 6th. "The NED usually doesn't have a field
presence and most of the work from our side takes place here
in D.C. Then once the grants are approved it's really very
much on the grantees' leadership and initiative to 'implement
their programs.'"

Cordova said the NED tries to monitor the programs from DC and
to provide some financial oversight, but "a lot of the
organizations in Haiti really need a lot of hand-holding, so
we hired this person to be part-time NED staff on the ground,
and she's helped us, well, both identify new grantees and to
respond to any specific questions they're going to have on the
ground."

Cordova said the relationship between NED and Alexandre has
worked out well. "I think it has been very helpful, and over
time as they get more used to having her there, they will use
her more effectively too. It works out well for us," said the
NED program officer, "because we don't need a full time
person. Like I said, it's an experiment, NED has never had
like a field presence like this before, but we really wanted
to expand our Haiti program so we thought it was really
necessary to do this."

Cordova said that Alexandre "was already in Haiti doing some
other freelance work" and the NED hired her part time where
she "works as a consultant." As a follow up, NED's Haiti
program officer forwarded in a December 6, 2005 eMail the
direct contacts for Regine Alexandre including her phone and
eMail address. "Nice talking to you today," wrote Cordova, "As
promised, attached is the information on our Haiti grantees,
and the contact information on our part-time field rep in
Haiti. Her name is Regine Alexandre. I will drop her an e-mail
and to let her know you might be in touch."

In recent years, NED funding for Haiti has skyrocketed from $0
in 2003, before the forced departure of elected President John
Bertrand Aristide, to $149,300 in 2004 to its current level of
$541,045 in 2005 (8 grantees). NED spending in Haiti is at its
highest level since 1990, the year Aristide was first elected.

Alexandre denies working for the NED, but said she has met
with several NED grantees and was considering working for NED
but then decided not to. "All I can tell you," she said in a
phone interview from Port-au-Prince on December 27th, "I met
with NED, I was going to work for them, and I didn't know much
about NED and I decided not to work for them. I remember
meeting with two, maybe three of the grantees and that's it,
but I do not work for NED."

In response to queries to AP about Alexandre's links to NED,
Jack Stokes of the Associated Press, Corporate Communications,
replied that "Regine Alexandre, a freelance reporter for AP,
says that at no time has she been an employee of the National
Endowment of Democracy. Alexandre, who is also a development
consultant in Haiti, says that at the request of NED she did
meet briefly with some Haitian non-government organizations to
provide them with contact information for NED, and was
reimbursed by NED for travel expenses. She says she was
unaware that NED had any U.S. government links. The AP is
continuing to look into the matter," the Stokes statement
concluded.

For their part, the New York Times has been avoiding comment
for days. After dozens of calls to several offices at the
Times, we were told that they were still looking into it, and
that their reporter in Haiti, Ginger Thompson, who used
Alexandre as a stringer, had no information about whether
Alexandre was working with the State Department. When I
pointed out we were talking about the NED, and not the State
Department directly, the deputy Foreign Desk Editor for the
Times, Ethan Bonner, said the Times will look into the matter
further and get back to us. Mr. Bonner acknowledged that it
could present a "conflict of interest," depending on the
situation, but he had no idea whether this particular case
would be a problem, or whether the Times would be utilizing
Regine Alexandre again or not.

In a follow up interview on 12/30/2005, Times Deputy Foreign
Editor, Ethan Bonner, stated that Thompson had caught up with
Alexandre for a brief cell phone conversation and Alexandre
assured her, as in the case of AP, she received expenses for
travel, which includeed air-fare to Washington D.C. for a job
interview with the NED, but then turned it down. Bonner said
that the NY Times believed that Alexander was not working or
consulting with the NED when she was reporting for the paper.
He said in her interview with Thomson that Alexandre denied
being an employee for the NED, but the line went dead before
Thompson could follow up as to whether Alexandre was on the
NED payroll, either directly or as a consultant or being paid
by NED grantees with NED monies.

"Conflict of interest" would be to put it mildly. "The NED was
created in the highest echelons of the US national security
state," writes William Robinson in Promoting Polyarchy:
Globalization, US Intervention and Hegemony. "It is
organically integrated into the overall execution of US
national security and foreign policy. In structure,
organization, and operation, it is closer to clandestine and
national security organs such as the CIA than to apolitical or
humanitarian endowments, as the name would suggest."

Other groups that have worked with Alexandre include RANCODHA,
a Haiti-based group, also working around the elections.
RANCODHA was the recipient of a $41,220 grant from the NED,
according to documents obtained from the NED. Gadin
Jean-Pierre, a spokesperson for the group, said in an
interview from Haiti on December 27th that Alexandre has been
in regular touch with the group, as a representative of the
NED. "She's keeping in touch with us, and we keep her informed
about our activities that we are doing now with the project. I
have had a meeting with her already, and she keeps in touch
with us."

In a second interview, Jean-Pierre again confirmed Alexandre's
work for the NED. "NED is the organization funding our
program...We get funding from NED and we are working in close
collaboration with Regine Alexandre. She will meet tomorrow
with us, at 9:00; we have the evaluation of the program of the
last module we have done. She will be with us tomorrow
(Thursday,December 29th)."

Hans Tippenhauer, director of Fondation Espoir (Hope
Foundation), the recipient of a $132,970 NED grant, also
confirmed that Regine Alexandre was working for the NED, and
acted as a "contact officer" between his organization and NED.
In an interview from Haiti Tippenhauer said "Yes, she is a
contact person" for Fondation Espoir, and added that "the
reality is our last program was approved before she was in
charge, so now she is just a contact officer for us, but we
are working directly with, I mean we had previous engagements
with NED in Washington..."

Maryse Balthazar is the coordinator of the Association of
Haitian Women Journalists or AMIFEH. The group received a
$16,815 NED grant for 2005. Balthazar said she last met with
Regine Alexandre on December 8th. She says that she first
started working with Alexandre in September 2005. Part of
AMIFEH's work is to train Haitian journalists how to cover
elections. "Yes," she said in an interview on 12/29/2005, "I
work with Alexandre." Balathazar said the last meeting she had
with Alexandre was "before the Session of the North
department," on December 8th, and that she had commenced
working with her in September of 2005.