For Fox News anchor Shepard Smith the news from Haiti this week is reminding him of a reporting trip he took to the island nation during the chaotic days of the 1993 political power struggle and refugee crisis. Smith, who was working as a reporter for Fox affiliate WSVN, conducted an interview with a man in Port-au-Prince when things turned violent.
“A gunman took my crew and me from the street, confiscated our video tape, held us for a short time and threatened to kill the Haitian man who we’d just interviewed because of his position on the Jean Bertrand Aristide government,” Smith tells TVNewser.
“It was a frightening experience for an inexperienced journalist,” he says.
While Haiti’s people are passionate, warm and resilient, its streets can be a very dangerous. I was too green 18 years ago to be working there.”
After the jump, a YouTube clip of the story on Smith as reported by Ft. Myers station WBBH…
As for returning to Haiti to report from the earthquake zone, it’s still a possibility for Smith who has been anchoring his shows from New York this week.