Overview:
The Haitian Occasions obtained nationwide recognition for its fearless reporting in the course of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, incomes the Maria Ressa Prize for Braveness in Native or Unbiased Journalism from the College of Maryland’s Merrill School of Journalism.
The College of Maryland’s Philip Merrill School of Journalism named The Haitian Occasions considered one of 4 recipients of the 2025 Maria Ressa Prizes for Courage in Journalism. The faculty honored the outlet for its reporting that countered anti-Haitian conspiracy theories unfold in the course of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Merrill School acknowledged the winners in a campus ceremony on Oct. 21, the place the prize recipients met with college students to debate their work and the dangers they took to report the reality.
Named after Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, the award celebrates journalists and information organizations that present distinctive bravery when confronting political strain, disinformation, or threats to press freedom. Every winner receives a $3,000 money prize, supported by the First Look Institute.
Merrill School cited The Haitian Occasions for “bravely” telling the reality “concerning the conspiracy theories amplified by then-candidate Donald Trump and others about Haitian refugees in the course of the 2024 marketing campaign.”
Final fall, the newsroom investigated and debunked conspiracy theories that falsely painted Haitian immigrants as violent and inhumane, which was amplified by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his operating mate J.D. Vance.
Via a sequence of on-the-ground tales, The Haitian Occasions documented how this rhetoric stoked real-world penalties: bomb threats, bodily harassment, and rising worry amongst Haitian households. Reporters elevated voices from a neighborhood underneath siege, held political figures accountable, and contextualized nationwide hate speech with deeply reported native perception. The protection additionally adopted Haitian Individuals rallying for justice and demanding apologies from political leaders, linking grassroots motion to broader civic discourse.
In response to the protection countering the fictional narratives, The Haitian Occasions obtained innumerable threats, culminating within the doxxing and swatting of The Haitian Occasions’ particular initiatives editor, Macollvie Neel.
“This recognition displays our dedication to centering Haitian voices in nationwide conversations that affect us,” stated Vania André, writer and editor-in-chief of The Haitian Occasions. “We didn’t shrink back from reporting what was uncomfortable or politically inconvenient—we reported what was true.”
The Maria Ressa Prize for Braveness in Native or Unbiased Journalism particularly honors smaller newsrooms or freelancers who function with restricted assets however proceed to ship impactful reporting. Since its founding in 1999, The Haitian Occasions has constructed a status as a trusted supply of reports for the Haitian American neighborhood, combining native perception with investigative depth.
The 2025 awardees additionally embrace Myanmarese documentarian Shin Daewe, at present imprisoned for her reporting; the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which has uncovered international corruption; and pupil journalists from UCLA, Indiana College and Columbia College who coated campus protests concerning the warfare in Gaza. Merrill School additionally issued a particular quotation for journalists killed whereas reporting on the warfare within the Center East.
“This 12 months’s honorees vary from a documentarian who was imprisoned and tortured for flying a drone to journalists amplifying reality amid a wave of conspiracy theories that affected the Haitian neighborhood in the course of the 2024 presidential election to college students who stood as much as energy at their universities to report on campus protests concerning the warfare in Gaza,” Merrill School Dean Rafael Lorente stated.
“The braveness they displayed to easily follow journalism is unparalleled and Merrill School is proud to acknowledge these fashions of our career.”