State funding divides the media in Haiti

Many traditional media outlets receive state funding amidst insecurity and a severe economic crisis. This funding can kill news, warn radio station executives

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Radiotélévision Caraïbes lost half of its advertising and airtime rental revenue following a fire at its premises in March.

Losses are around 60% for Radio Télé Métropole over the last decade.

These two leading media outlets illustrate a trend: struck down by insecurity, the economic crisis and the ever-increasing penetration of the Internet, Haiti’s traditional media are testing the limits of their economic model, which is primarily based on advertising and contracts with the state.

Some have stopped broadcasting, others have reduced their staff or are waiting for a contribution from the public administration.

The National Association of Haitian Media (ANMH) revealed to AyiboPost that it benefited from a project linked to the preliminary draft Constitution in June 2025.

This project, worth more than 100 million gourdes, aimed to « inform the public about the content of the preliminary draft Constitution through broadcasts in all the media members of the National Association of Haitian Media (around fifty) and the Association of Independent Media of Haiti (AMIH) », reveals a source close to the ANMH.

The controversial new Constitution was submitted in May 2025 to the Transitional Presidential Council by the National Conference Steering Committee (CPCC).

The media promotion program for the text lasted throughout June 2025 and involved more than 70 media outlets across the country, the official continued.

This is an « interesting stimulus » pending similar state payments for the referendum and the launch of the electoral process, the source said, indicating that ANMH member media can « help one way or another. »

In August and September, the State entrusted certain media outlets, including members of the ANMH, with promotional and advertising campaigns valued at less than one million gourdes, from the General Administration of Customs (AGD), the BRH and the FNE, informs the source close to the ANMH.

Read more: The huge losses that RTVC could suffer in the fire at its premises

The transitional government also has a non-public funding program targeting certain media outlets.

« We are aware of the project, but we have neither signed any documents nor submitted a project, » RTVC CEO Marc-Anderson Brégard told AyiboPost.

State support for the media « remains a great wish, » adds Richard Widmaier, director of the Métropole group.

Widmaier, however, urges caution and calls on the public administration to formally reduce electricity rates and certain taxes for media outlets. He has just taken out a bank loan to purchase a solar power system for his media outlet.

This is not the first time that the Haitian state has come to the rescue of the media.

Following the earthquake of January 12, 2010, traditional media outlets such as Radio Télé Métropole benefited from a project by the government of former President René Préval, which provided these institutions with fuel allowances and funding of 500,000 gourdes for a period of approximately six months.

This support allowed Radio Télé Métropole to purchase equipment, according to Widmaier.

These direct state interventions, outside any legal framework and without transparent public mechanisms to guarantee the independence of the participating media, are not unanimous.

This project, worth more than 100 million gourdes, aimed to « inform the public about the content of the preliminary draft Constitution through broadcasts in all the media members of the National Association of Haitian Media (around fifty) and the Association of Independent Media of Haiti (AMIH) », reveals a source close to the ANMH.

Elsie Ethéart, a founding member of Radio Mélodie, says she is concerned about financial injections that resemble « favoritism » from the state towards certain media outlets.

His station, attacked by gangs earlier this year in downtown Port-au-Prince, received no state funding.

« We don’t know what conditions accompany this financing, » continues Ethéart.

Jean Renel Sénatus, owner of Radio Émancipation, goes further.

According to him, the state is trying to « muzzle certain media outlets » by offering them money, an approach which, in his view, undermines press freedom. Sénatus also speaks of practices of « partisan collusion, » where certain funded media outlets are content to relay the official voice.

« When the state chooses to categorize which media outlets are eligible to receive subsidies, especially during such a difficult time for the press, it is an attack on freedom of information. It is a group of leaders who want to impose their thinking, » warns Sénatus.

Radio Émancipation received nothing from the state after losing its premises in Port-au-Prince.

It is the information industry in Haiti that is in crisis.

Read also: This is how gangs looted several media outlets in P-au-P

By early 2025, internet penetration is close to 40%. The ever-increasing use of the web is accompanied by a migration of advertising investments by Haitian businesses to major online platforms like Meta or TikTok, and to the ever-growing ecosystem of local content creators.

These actors and content creators maintain a decisive influence on information in Haiti, in a context of massive dissemination of false information and propaganda for payment.

The few professional media outlets native to the Internet in Haiti are experiencing funding difficulties, particularly due to the scarcity of projects supported by international organizations.

« We are aware of the project, but we have neither signed any documents nor submitted a project, » RTVC CEO Marc-Anderson Brégard told AyiboPost.

AlterPresse was launched online in October 2015, then broadcast on air from March 2018.

The crisis, which has had a financial impact, has devastated this commercial station, which has been forced to reduce its staff by 40%, going from around twenty to a dozen employees.

« We’re in financial difficulty, » says Gotson Pierre, director of the AlterRadio station and the AlterPresse online agency. « We’re using a lot of our reserves, but we don’t know how far that can go. »

By : Jérôme Wendy Norestyl & Lucnise Duquereste

Cover | Context: Journalists march against police brutality on January 28, 2021, in Port-au-Prince. Photo: Valerie Baeriswyl for AyiboPost