Signs begging for help are hanging all over Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince after the earthquake on 12 January 2010 left tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Photo: Anne Poulsen/IMS

Haitian media appeal for international support to rebuild media following the 12 January earthquake. A second wave of difficulties is about to hit Haitian media, say local media representatives. Report and video from Haiti

As two weeks have passed since an 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, relief efforts are moving into a new phase rebuilding everything that was destroyed. Since the arrival to Haiti, IMS Haiti Response Team have met with local journalists, media owners and media associations and consulted with other international media support organisations operating in Haiti to assess the need for support.

In a meeting with Clarens Renois, who is a journalist working for the French press agency AFP and the head of the Haitian Press Network, Renois calls out to the international media community for support to rebuild the media sector.

Click on the window below to hear his appeal:

Next crisis: Loss of jobs due to financial collapse

In a meeting with the newspaper Le Nouvelliste, the two editors, Louis-Gary Vyprien and Dieudonne Joachim explained to IMS staff in Haiti, Robert Shaw and Anne Poulsen, that le Nouvelliste stopped working after the earthquake as buildings and the print press were damaged and all personel were evacuated. For the moment, Le Nouvelliste is working solely as an online media. The editors estimate that it will take between 3 and 5 months to get the newspaper back into full working order, and in the meantime they hope to launch a weekly paper edition.

According to the organisation SOS Journalistes, a national association for journalists in Haiti, 14 journalists were killed and 15 injured following the 12 January earthquake. One person is missing.

Guyler Delva, the head of SOS Journalistes explains that assistance in the form of food, shelter and water is badly needed by the journalists. Also, he assesses that trauma counseling will be necessary. Furthermore, there is a major need to rebuild local journalist support organisations, he says.

On top of the damage and suffering caused by the earthquake, journalists are facing a particular challenge, as they risk losing their jobs as a consequence of the ongoing crisis:

-       Many Haitian journalists survive on advertising money. Following the widespread destruction of many businesses, much of the advertising money has dried up, and so I expect to see many journalists being laid off soon, says Guyler Delva.

He joins Clarens Renois from the Haitian Press Network in calling for international support to help rebuild the media sector to secure the jobs and the livelyhoods of Haitian media workers.

Need for media accute

In meetings with several international media support organisations, the IMS Haiti Response Team has been reaffirmed of the need to bridge the gap between humanitarian organisations and the local media community to help ensure that vital information on how to get help reaches the people of Haiti.

Media support in crises is often overlooked as daily news mistakenly is viewed as a luxury. However, IMS' experience from working with media in conflict zones and areas affected by humanitarian crises shows that news updates produced by the local media can be vital in ensuring that humanitarian information reaches the affected communities, thus improving and speeding up relief efforts.

IMS is therefore further exploring ways to support initiatives that focuses on supporting local journalists to produce and convey humanitarian specific messages to the affected communities in close collaboration with other media support organisations operating in Haiti.

Already on track is the mapping of communications networks in Haiti, which is carried out in a collaboration between IMS and CartONG. Maps have already been shared with other international media support organisations and posted on central Internet hubs like ReliefWeb and OCHA.