La Apatrida and TPS: Counter-Hegemonic News and Reclaiming Dignity in Haitian National Newspapers

Abstract

This study examined the news coverage of two immigration stories involving Haitian migrants that made international headlines. Those two news stories were (a) the deportation of Dominicans of Haitian descent and (b) the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for displaced Haitians residing in the United States after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. This study sampled 198 Haitian newspaper articles over the 6-month period that both stories made global headlines in 2015 and then in 2017. The two Haitian national newspapers Le Nouvelliste, the country’s paper of record, and Le Nacional, the country’s newest daily, affirmed the rights and dignity of people of Haitian origin displaced by policy attributed as xenophobic and racist. Haitian newspapers described Haitian migrant families as being equally Dominican, regardless of their status, and in the United States, as being lawful migrants with rights under TPS. Haitian newspapers varied in their coverage of the governments of the two countries, being more critical of the administration of President Donald Trump, but more nuanced in their coverage of the Dominican Republic’s government.