NED reporter unmasked in Haiti

A bylined freelancer for the Associated Press (AP), who is also a stringer for the New York Times in Haiti, is moonlighting as a consultant for the US government-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED), according to an official at the NED, and several of the agency's grantees. Regine Alexandre, whose name has appeared as an AP byline at least a dozen times since May 2004, and appeared as a contributor to two New York Times stories, is a part of a NED "experiment" to place a representative on the ground in countries where the NED has funded groups. "This is almost like an experiment for us," said Fabiola Cordova, a Haiti program officer with the NED in Washington, DC, on Dec. 6. "The NED usually doesn't have a field presence and most of the work from our side takes place here in DC. Then once the grants are approved it's really very much on the grantees' leadership and initiative to 'implement their programs.'" Cordova said the NED tries to monitor the programs from Washington and to provide some financial oversight, but "a lot of the organizations in Haiti really need a lot of hand-holding, so we hired this person to be part-time NED staff on the ground, and she's helped us, well, both identify new grantees and to respond to any specific questions they're going to have on the ground." Cordova said that Alexandre "was already in Haiti doing some other freelance work" and the NED hired her part-time where she "works as a consultant." NED is funded annually by grants from Congress and the State Department, with a 2006 global budget of $80 million. For years the group has played a controversial role–with lopsided funding of elections in foreign countries–in promoting pro-US candidates and policies friendly to US interests. Most recently, the NED has been accused of attempting to destabilize the Venezuelan government. NED funding for Haiti has skyrocketed from nothing in 2003 before the forced departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to $149,300 in 2004 to $541,045 in 2005. Alexandre denies working for the NED, but said she has met with several NED grantees and considered working for NED but then decided not to. "All I can tell you," she said in a phone interview from Port-au-Prince on Dec. 27, "I met with NED, I was going to work for them, and I didn't know much about NED and I decided not to work for them. I remember meeting with two, maybe three of the grantees and that's it, but I do not work for NED." In response to initial queries about Alexandre's links to NED, the Associated Press replied that "Regine Alexandre, a freelance reporter for AP, says that at no time has she been an employee of the National Endowment of Democracy. Alexandre, who is also a development consultant in Haiti, says that at the request of NED she did meet briefly with some Haitian non-government organizations to provide them with contact information for NED, and was reimbursed by NED for travel expenses. She says she was unaware that NED had any US government links. The AP is continuing to look into the matter." The New York Times avoided comment for days. After dozens of calls to several offices at the Times, we were told that they were still looking into it, and that their reporter in Haiti, Ginger Thompson, who used Alexandre as a stringer, had no information about whether Alexandre was working with the State Department. When I pointed out we were talking about the NED, and not the State Department directly, the deputy foreign desk editor for the Times, Ethan Bonner, said the Times will look into the matter further and get back to us. Bonner acknowledged that it could present a "conflict of interest," depending on the situation, but he had no idea whether this particular case would be a problem, or whether the Times would be utilizing Regine Alexandre again or not. In a follow up interview on Dec. 30, Bonner stated that Thompson had caught up with Alexandre for a brief cell phone conversation and Alexandre assured her that she received expenses for travel, which included airfare to Washington, DC, for a job interview with the NED, but then turned it down. Bonner said that the Times believed that Alexandre was not working for or consulting with the NED when she was reporting for the paper. Groups that have worked with Alexandre include RANCODHA, a Haiti-based group working around the Haitian elections. RANCODHA was the recipient of a $41,220 grant from the NED, according to documents obtained from the NED. Gadin Jean-Pierre, a spokesperson for the group, said in a Dec. 27 interview from Haiti that Alexandre has been in regular touch with the group, as a representative of the NED. "She's keeping in touch with us, and we keep her informed about our activities that we are doing now with the project." Hans Tippenhauer, director of Fondation Espoir (Hope Foundation), the recipient of a $132,970 NED grant, also confirmed that Regine Alexandre was working for the NED, and acted as a "contact officer" between his organization and NED. Maryse Balthazar is the coordinator of the Association of Haitian Women Journalists (AMIFEH). The group received a $16,815 NED grant for 2005. Balthazar said she last met with Regine Alexandre on Dec. 8. She says that she first started working with Alexandre in September 2005. Part of AMIFEH's work is to train Haitian journalists how to cover elections. After the original story broke, AP announced that it had severed ties with the freelancer because she is on the payroll of the NED. Mike Silverman, AP managing editor, stated that "AP employees must avoid any behavior or activities that create a conflict of interest or compromise our ability to report the news fairly and accurately." Silverman said that "Alexandre, who freelances for other news organizations, reported only one story for the AP–on the Dec. 24 killing of a UN peacekeeper in Haiti–after beginning her association with the NED. She first began reporting for the AP in 2004. After another freelance journalist raised questions this week about Alexandre and the NED, she denied she was an employee of the organization. She said she had made trips into the Haitian countryside to establish links between the NED and Haitian non-governmental organizations and was reimbursed for her expenses. When told later that the NED confirmed her employment, she continued to maintain she did not work for the organization." The NED said it was unaware when it hired Alexandre that she worked for the AP or any other media organization. Following the AP's announcement that it severed ties with Alexandre, the Times' Bonner stated that a spokesperson for the NED confirmed that, in fact, Regine Alexandre is an employee of the NED. He also asserted that it is his understanding that she was not an NED employee at the time she was a stringer for the newspaper. When asked if Alexandre was paid indirectly–through another agency–Bonner replied that "that is a deeper question" that he would have to look into further. Bonner further stated that Regine Alexandre has been freelancing for the Times for some time, going back into the 1990s. The independence of US journalism–how free it is from government influence and control–has emerged as a troubling issue in recent years. The Bush administration has admitted to paying some commentators, such as Armstrong Williams, to promote government policies. In one case, pro-Republican groups planted "journalist" Jeff Gannon inside the White House press corps to pose friendly questions to Republicans. The New York Times, also has had to grapple with a star reporter, Judith Miller, shedding professional skepticism and parroting administration propaganda as news.