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Benjamin Melançon's Reporter's Notebook

 

AP, NYT freelancer in Haiti also part-time for US' NED

Posted by Benjamin Melançon - December 30, 2005 at 9:21 am
Anthony Fenton and Dennis Bernstein report:

(Flashpoints! - Berkeley) 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.

I don't think any involvement precludes reporting, but it has to be disclosed, and this is pretty damning.  Thanks Anthony for the reporting and the tip.

About Benjamin Melançon

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http://www.mlncn.com/

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Student-on-hold, ex-stocker and failed union agitator, ex-white-collar consultant and now co-founder and developer at Agaric Design Collective, making web sites with open source free software.

My Narcosphere intro.

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Comments

FIRED: RéGINE is outed from AP, but NED ...

Submitted December 30, 2005 - 7:20 pm by Randall White
…still in denial.

It will be hard for NED to replace the Canadian National, Regine Alexandre.

A couple days ago we were getting rumors — and were saying that yesterday's Noriega op-ed was an omen of — that the Jan 8 election date would be delayed. A few hours ago AFP confirmed and now, everyone busy churning out election delayed stories, hoping that the RéGINE story can get drowned out.

We're working on an update now with info from NYT who seem to be having difficulty reaching Ms. Alexandre.

Check HaitiAction.net in a few hours. Thanks to NarcoNews for linking to the HA.net article. There is a bigger story here. Not the "what they have done?" — but the "why they did it."

RAW

AP Cuts Ties With US Gov't Consultant in Haiti

Submitted December 30, 2005 - 10:38 pm by Benjamin Melançon
Following Anthony Fenton's exposure of the Associated Press and New York Times free-lancer's part time job with the United States government's fund for interference in other countries politics, Regine Alexandre is out of at least one of her jobs.

The Associated Press reported today:

The Associated Press has terminated its relationship with a freelance reporter in Haiti after learning she was working for a U.S. government-sponsored organization [the National Endowment for Democracy].

As getting corrupt reporters fired is something of a tradition at Narco News, I'm proud to point out that Anthony Fenton recently became a co-publisher with a monthly donation.  You can join him and the other cool kids, like Haiti Action's Randall A. White, with a donation to The Fund for Authentic Journalism.

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