It was a news story that transfixed the world for days, then weeks: A massive earthquake in Haiti left thousands dead, and thousands more homeless without food, water or medical help. The pictures and stories coming out of the collapsing nation were heartbreaking. Some accused the media of feeding on suffering, while others credited them for bringing attention and thus aid to the devastated country. But no one would dispute that for those who were there it was an unforgettable assignment.

Handling mixed emotions was just the first of many challenges faced by journalists who took on the tough assignment of reporting in Haiti. At the next CJF Forum, join Maclean’s foreign correspondent Michael Petrou, Toronto Star reporter and columnist Catherine Porter, Globe and Mail reporter Anna Mehler Paperny and Globe and Mail photographer Fernando Morales as they reflect on their work and time spent in Haiti. The discussion will be moderated by author and journalist Sally Armstrong.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 16, Presentation 6:30 p.m., Reception 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave., Toronto

Michael Petrou is a foreign correspondent at Maclean's magazine, covering wars and conflicts across Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. He was awarded a National Magazine Award Silver citation last year for his dispatches from Haiti. He is also the author of Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War. He has a doctorate in modern history from the University of Oxford.

Catherine Porter is an award-winning columnist at the Toronto Star. She writes about community, women's rights, politics, social activism, the environment and anything else that comes into her pretty little head. In her past lives, she has farmed behind a yak in Kashmir, been tear-gassed while protesting globalization in Quebec City, and competed nationally on the Ultimate Frisbee field. She has two kids and feels very lucky to have gone to Haiti. She hopes to return soon.

Anna Mehler Paperny has reported for the Globe and Mail from across B.C. and Ontario and, most recently, the bowels of Toronto’s City Hall. She has written for the Edmonton Journal and the Kingston Whig-Standard and owes any pretence of journalistic credentials to the Queen’s Journal, the campus paper where she served a year as editor-in-chief. Although she has a track record of scandalizing locals in China and India, her whirlwind trip to Haiti was her first foreign assignment. If she has a say in the matter, it won’t be her last.

Fernando Morales grew up surrounded by breaking news and the smell of fresh ink – his father was a page designer at the Chilean newspaper, La Nacion. Fernando never had any doubts when he chose to study photojournalism in 1990. For the past 15 years, Fernando has worked for numerous newspapers and wire news agencies in South and Central America and North America. In 2006 he became a staff photographer at the Globe and Mail.

ABOUT OUR MODERATOR

Sally Armstrong is a human rights activist, journalist and award-winning writer. She is the author of Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women. She is a member of the Order of Canada and has been the recipient of numerous journalism and humanitarian awards, including two Amnesty International Media Awards and the Canadian Journalism Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.