State Owned Media in Haiti

As mentioned in a previous blog, Haiti has seven national radio stations, two national newspapers, and one national television station. In addition to these, there are multiple private owned and smaller media outlets. Today we will focus on Haiti's state owned media: Haiti's National Television (Television Nationale d'Haiti) and National Radio (Nationale Radio).

According to the TNH website, Haiti's National Television was founded in December of 1979 and was placed under Haiti's Ministry of Information and Coordination. It then merged with National Radio in 1987 to become Radio Television Nationale d'Haiti (RTNH). In 2006, the government of Haiti decide to take RTNH for itself as a means for providing community members with  necessary government information. After being taken over by the government, RTNH was named Television Nationale d'Haiti.

To truly benefit community members, TNH established a clear cut mission statement. Listed on its website are the following goals: 1) Educate the population about the objectives of state and public service, 2) Inform the public of the state agencies' activities, 3) Promote the national culture, and 4) Ensure the free expression of ideas by momentum-oriented social progress and the development of socio-economics.

Surprisingly, very limited information is provided on Haiti's state owned media. If you look at the official website for the media, it seems quite underdeveloped itself. This could be a direct result of the oppression journalists have faced in the past, limiting the development of the media. One good thing about the state owned media is that is has established a goal to promote Haiti's national culture which may mean they would protect the nations culture from the media conglomerates.