The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has moved quickly to connect with and help Haitian journalists impacted by the recent earthquake there.
CPJ has responded with direct assistance for basic daily needs to “get them on their feet again”, according to the organization.
CPJ’s Journalist Assistance program is cooperating with Jean Roland Chery. He is a reporter for Radio Haiti-Inter who lives in New York, but maintains an outstanding network of contacts on the ground in Haiti. Through Chery, the CPJ has been able to develop a network of on-the-ground contacts to reach journalists, see what they need, and find out whether partnering with local organizations is possible.
Chery’s blog about Signal FM tells about the only Haitian radio station to have broadcast continuously before and after the Jan. 12 earthquake.
The organization is also in touch with Guylar Delva, Haiti’s leading press freedom advocate, and head of SOS Journalistes, which protects local reporters and promotes professional journalism.
You can read about his experience in the earthquake on the CPJ Blog.