United Nations, United States (AFP)—The media in Haiti are a “systematic” target of criminal gangs trying to silence them, an official with the UN’s cultural body said Thursday, hailing the courage of journalists working there in harrowing conditions.

“The situation is very alarming, very worrying, because the media are now a target,” Eric Voli Bi, the representative for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Haiti, told AFP in an interview.

Two journalists were killed in a hail of bullets in the capital Port-au-Prince in December while covering the reopening of a hospital.

Just last week, the offices of a television network and two radio stations were attacked and looted, as the city faces another burst of gang violence.

“Gangs are targeting journalists and newsrooms, destroying and burning them,” Voli Bi said.

“I think the goal of this calculated strategy is simply to silence the journalists and media, prevent Haitians from getting information about the situation in a transparent manner.”

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, was plunged into fresh unrest last year when gangs launched coordinated attacks in Port-au-Prince to force then prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.

The interim government and a Kenya-led security force with UN backing have struggled to restore order. Armed groups now control 85 percent of the capital, according to UN figures.

In December, more than 200 people were killed in a gang-ordered manhunt of those believed to be voodoo practitioners, many of them elderly.

UNESCO has set up mental health support programs for journalists, students and others, Voli Bi said, adding that while some have withdrawn from active coverage, others are soldiering on — sometimes without protective gear like bulletproof vests.

– Survival –

But Voli Bi says the journalists need not only basic safety equipment — they also want the help of the sort of security experts used by international news organizations on the front lines in places like Ukraine.

“They also need financial support, because the current conditions have put the economic viability of media outlets in danger,” the UN official said.

UNESCO plans to sponsor a series of projects so that local media organizations can “survive during this crisis” and emerge with “a free press and an economic situation that is conducive to the ongoing work of these groups,” he explained.

Those plans include the restructuring of state television with the cooperation of the interim government, which he said is keen to see a “true public service media,” and not just purveyors of state propaganda.

While Haitians tend to trust private media reports, they are more skeptical about state media, Voli Bi said, adding that they cannot rely on foreign outlets, who are not well represented in the country, meaning the crisis tends to go unnoticed.

For Voli Bi, the violence alone does not account for the lack of media attention, because journalists operate in other danger zones such as Ukraine.