DiscoverHaiti:

We know you as a very successful Haitian journalist. You’ve worked for the NY Times, and now you are the director of the Haitian Times could you give us a brief bio of your career.

Garry Pierre-Pierre:

Well, I was born in Haiti; I came to the US when I was eight years old. I grew up between NY and New Jersey. I graduated from Florida A and M University in History and Economics with a concentration in journalism. I was the editor in chief of my college newspaper as well as the chief photographer. I spent a year teaching part time and working for a magazine in the south. I later joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Togo working in agriculture. I then came back to the US and worked in a newspaper in Florida, the Lincoln Leisure, as the newspaper recorder. I later got a job at another newspaper and started covering Haiti, the Caribbean, politics and local news. I later caught the eyes of the NY Times editor who was hiring in 1992. There I covered transportation, Brooklyn Bronx, immigration, and crime.

Two and a half years ago I decided that it was the time at 36 to do something for my community. I had the experience. I decided to produce a newspaper… even more… an information resource for the community that would be balanced, fair and accurate and present information in a professional way. I felt that the newspaper that we have in our community… and this is not a knock against them… but…what they are are alternative newspapers in the sense that they give an alternative view of things. We need an ethnic newspaper and what it does is give news of a certain ethnic group…and if you look at some of the Haitian newspapers, they are so centered on Haiti that the information about the community is second thought. We thus wanted to have a newspaper that made the community its focal point: this is where we are: good or bad, we’re Haitian americans, we’re rich, we’re poor, we’re light, we’re dark, we’re professional, we’re working class. So far that ‘s what we’ve been able to do with the Haitian Times: a mirror of who we are and that’s what I needed… that’s what I think we needed because when you look at the generation that was coming up, that generation was at the same time very interested toward Haiti and everything haitian but yet they had very few credible sources.  The radio is fine; TV is fine too, but the problem is that they’re not reaching that generation; the language is the problem and you’re not reaching that generation which has problem understanding creole or French. So we thought that to reach out to that generation a newspaper would be most cost effective and have the most impact. That’s why we have started with a newspaper. In the long term we have plans for a radio and a TV station and it will be more than that depending on what happens; we will grow up and get the resources that are necessary. We wanted to first build our credibility with this newspaper and then move from there.

DH You mention "we"… you are like an investment group?

GPP: Oh it’s a stock…something like that one person can’t do. We are investors and we have a lot of people who believe in my project and people have given money. I’m the main capitalist behind it. But there are many people behind this whole project. That’s why I always want to correct people when they say it’s your paper. I say it’s not mine… it’s yours; you’re buying. It’s for the community.

DH Do you thing that the fact of being Haitian has impacted on your success on your career in the US?

... We tend to shy away from our haitianness and it’s not okay. We need to shout it, I want to shout it and that’s why I called the Haitian Times the Haitian Times…we are a country with seven million people...

GPP Oh very good question…the answer is yes. I think that the opportunities that I have had were because I was Haitian. You have to understand, I was struggling at the beginning of my career and I got the job at the Lincoln Leisure back in the backwaters of Florida (they may get angry at that over there…I don't care…). Through my contacts, I got another job but even there, what intrigued people was the fact that I could speak Creole and French. I was able to stay and succeed because of my talent but sometimes the important step is getting the job because there is so much competition out there that you want to have an edge on everyone else… and speaking Creole and French was an asset that editors looked for. In fact when I interviewed for the NY times…I never thought that the NY times would be interested in me… I went to a conference of the black journalist in Detroit and I saw the table of the NY times … I gave my resume to the representative and he looked at my resume and he looked very interested…then he asked me “ how did you learn how to write this well” I said I read a lot and I have a good editor,….you know you want to be sharp and witty…(laugh)… he said how would you like to have better editors? Then he gave me his card and invited me to a reception. I went there and at the time there was the Aristide problem in Haiti and they were very interested in me and the fact that I was Haitian speaking Creole and French got me the job. I was able to work well there, do the Haiti assignment well and grow. We tend to shy away from our haitianness and it’s not okay. We need to shout it, I want to shout it and that’s why I called the Haitian Times the Haitian Times…we are a country with seven million people. Right now we have over six hundred newsstands across the city and the NY times company CNS distribution delivery system helps us deliver the papers. We started very modestly but they increased our distribution and we are all over manhattan and Brooklyn, in Haitian neighborhoods and non-Haitian neighborhood. So we’re growing.

DH What was your most successful experience while working for the NY times?

GPP We won a prize for a coverage news in the world trade center. I was a major player of the team working on that project. I also covered Zaire at the end of Mobutu’s regime. I enjoyed this project. I think my Abner Louima coverage was very good. It’s very hard to say one story. I particularly enjoyed covering crime in the city. I had a fulfilling career there. Incidentally I’m still on staff there…on sabbatical…technically…(laugh) I don’t know when I’ll be back if I’ll be back. But they’ve been very helpful in supporting my project. They sent me to school to study marketing and I spent about eight months working in the marketing department there.

DH What was your greatest career difficulty?

GPP Difficulty…I think…trying to …get my time to be a top level. I got so many rejection letters at the beginning. Just trying to get that next level…I was very lucky. The difficulty was getting my first job then from there I moved on. I think also the Haitian community was not easy. But in a way it prepared me for this. It was a trial for me when I started the Haitian Times. I turned many negative feedbacks into positives and make them a learning experience.

DH The Haitian Times is also a business, how do you keep your journalist integrity intact while still running a business?

... We make sure that we separate business from our journalist work. We don't accept ads that are tied up to a story...

GPP It's very simple. We decided that we would maintain the highest integrity. We make sure that we separate business from our journalist work. We don't accept ads that are tied up to a story. We don't accept money to write stories. We write stories because we believe they're worth printing. If people decide later on to place their ads on our newspaper then we accept them but not to write stories about them. All we're asking people is to buy the paper because they believe we're doing a good job but not pay us to write stories on them. We don't need that.

DH So what role do you expect the Haitian times to play in the Haitian community?

GPP Oh I hope that at one point it becomes the authority for Haitians in Haiti

DH Is the Haitian Times situated somewhere along the politic lines…centrist, leftist?

GPP Oh I think we've been here long enough for people to know where we stand. It is what it is. We are an alternative newspaper and that said it all. People expected us to take a political side in the beginning. Of course, I have my own political standpoint. But it's not just about me. There are many people working to produce this newspaper. We want to be critical when we have to be. Whatever my political line is.

DH What do you depend on to learn the truth?

GPP Oh the truth is not absolute. What we strive for is balance. We tell people what we know. Actually we want to activate our website to give people news as they are happening after the paper is published. We missed some stories because of deadline constraints. But now we want to concentrate on the newspaper

DH What are your hopes for yourself and the Haitian times?

GPP I'd like us to grow…in content and size. Our goal is to have forty pages to give people good articles on business, open a business section with a couple of articles. We need to improve our culture section as well as the sport one. We could do a little bit better than we're doing right now. We certainly could improve but it's a matter of resources and time constraints.

DH We know the Haitian Times was one of the sponsors of the West Indian day parade. What motivated that decision and what challenges you faced to accomplish that?

GPP (Laugh) The motivation was simple. It was based on a mission to move Haiti forward. There's always been little Haitian participation in this event since I've been here since 1971. I remember there was a time when Tabou used to come out then Phantom came unto the scene but they were always late. And then Kino is always cursing …uh... You know it was not there people were laughing at us. And the last two years we came after Wyclef with people wearing our flag. Two years ago we decided that we wanted the community to be more visible. You know Haitian…Haitian Times…that's what motivated that.

            The other part of the question…I know you're referring to my editorial on the story…some of it is silly…it's kind of embarrassing talking about it…we had all kinds of problems having djakout coming…they thought that we were moving on their tuff having djakout coming here…djakout is not from here and … who are we to be so arrogant to debunk the status quo… bottom line is we were able to overcome all of this….many people tried to stop a deal when we got a certain airline to sponsor the band coming here…but we were determined to move forward…if you really believe in something you can't stop at the first obstacle…you have to persist. That's actually one of the problems we have in our community…we get discourage to easily…we let people intimidate us and we give up. But we didn't give up. You saw how we spent the money, we were able to play as professionals and finish the parade. We show people that we Haitians can do things. It's not about showing off. It's about doing things that we know that we can do. There's a perception there that's totally wrong. We need to correct that. It matters. Some people don't get that. We want people to know that there's a new generation out there. We are ready to do things differently…people like you guys….like me…and the young Haitian Americans out there. …You know it's either you move over or we push you over. You've had your chance..and some of you have done great things…we regret to do that but now it's time to move to the next level and you're regressing. I know that some time I'm gonna have to give up and pass it on to the next generation to bring it on to the next level. I'm gonna go back to Haiti…to Miragoane and chill. That's what it's about.

DH As someone who came to the us at a young age, you turned back to your roots…well I don't have statistics with me but there's a great number of Haitians with the same background as you do who have turned toward the outside…what do you say to those to keep a balance?

...The new generation cares about the Haitian community but they have no info on it. We have tremendous talent in our community but we are disconnected among ourselves. We need to bridge that gap between the old and the new generation. That's what the Haitian Times is about. I'm very optimistic about our community....

GPP What I'm saying to them is what the Haitian Times is all about…we call it a return address… all of those who were lost you have the Haitian Times here…you know there are a great number of Haitians doing great things out there …in wall street…wherever…I need these people to come back and help build this community…to see the community differently and invest in that community. That's what we're trying to do to… bring people back to their roots and give a voice to our community. People are sick now of the political debacle that's always reported on Haiti. People get turn off. The new generation cares about the Haitian community but they have no info on it. We have tremendous talent in our community but we are disconnected among ourselves. We need to bridge that gap between the old and the new generation. That's what the Haitian Times is about. I'm very optimistic about our community. We have smart young people in our communities that are committed to our success but we need to give them time to let that happen. We're gonna get there…

DH Would you tell us a little bit about the man behind the journalist? Anything you want to share. Family, hobbies…?

GPP I'm married and I have two children. One is six and half, the other is two and a half. I live in park slope, not too far from the paper but.. I won't give you the address…(Laugh). I used to love to play tennis and basketball but I don't have the time anymore. Now I love music and the arts…I am a collectioner of Haitian art…I'm a big supporter of the arts…I love to travel…But the last two years because of the paper I haven't been around really

DH What are some of the lessons you've learned throughout your career?

GPP Lessons…well…There've been a lot of lessons…every day you have a lesson…to be more precise…at the Haitian Times I've learnt a lot about human psychology, human behavior…you learn to live on plan C, because plan A and B won't work. People let you down; they promise one thing and then don't do it. Not to say people are lying but you know sometimes people say one thing, they mean well but they just can't do it. You know yourself and your capacities. But with other people it becomes more complicated. For example I was talking to CSN about distributing out paper and it took them a year to get it to where I wanted it to be…a whole year…these are the things that I have to learn…patience…you have to be patient…as a reporter you are trained to be that way…to be alert when you see opportunity…but as a manager…you have to be patient…you can't do it all by yourself, you need people to help you. And you need to be able to accept that they may not be able to do something the way you want them to do it and when you want them to do it. You have to strive for balance.

DH What is your biggest strength and your biggest weakness?

GPP I think that my biggest strength is that I'm tireless…and I have ideas and my biggest weakness is that I'm not patient and I've gotten a lot better...I've learnt that…if I see something or have an idea I get frustrated when people don't see it lhow I see it and when I see it. That's a weakness. You have to be patient with people.

DH What are your hopes for the Haitian Diaspora community?

GPP Well I hope it becomes a sophisticated and savvy community

DH In what way?

GPP In an economic and political way. We need to start flexing our muscle and start influencing policies vis a vis Haiti. We need to start electing our people in high offices. We need some Haitian millionaires…I need them…to support the Haitian Times…we need to have a strong business community…I hope that our media can be strengthened…and that can really happen if we have the participation of the middle class and the bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisie remained distant living in long island….working in Manhattan…and that's it…No! No! We have to come back to our community. Why isn't thee a descent restaurant in our community…it's because we won't support it.

DH Do you think support will make Haitian businesses better?

GPP Obviously. You force them…then they have to close the door. If you patronize them they have to listen to you. Part of it is a cash problem too. Because the owner can't hire qualified waitresses, he hires his cousins or somebody and say okay "al sevi moun yo". You know she doesn't want to be there. We have to follow good steps. You know…give me a good restaurant and I'll support it. That 's what we should do. You know I can't bring people to Haitian restaurants because the food is either lousy or the service is poor. We have to force them to improve by supporting them and demanding good service in return. It's about building the community.

DH What are some advices you'll give to young Haitians especially those interested in journalism

GPP Go to Wall Street and make money….laugh…I mean seriously…journalism is a special field….you go into it because you have a different vision of the world. Don't go into it because you want to make money…do it because you want to make a difference not because of money or because you want to be famous…