WYCLEF CELEBRATES TV SCOOP

Last updated: Saturday, February 18, 2006

WYCLEF CELEBRATES TV SCOOP

Hip-hop hero WYCLEF JEAN's newly-acquired Haitian TV network is celebrating its first big scoop after exposing a voting scandal in the country's recent presidential elections.

FUGEES star paid $2.7 million (GBP1.5 million) to buy Haiti's biggest television network, Telemax, and he's already seeing huge dividends on his investment.

Jean reveals he gave the OK for a hard-hitting story about how militants on the island tried to keep PRESIDENT RENE PREVAL from power - by burning ballot boxes.

He boasts, "I got a call from New York. They said, 'Clef, there have been ballots found with Preval's name on it and they're burned. What should we do?' I said, 'Take that news and put it on the TV right now.'

"I couldn't have gotten that network at a better time. That news right there penetrated a domino effect because other networks got it."

Wyclef has big plans for his new media acquisition, but, firstly, he wants to educate Haitians.

He explains, "Eighty per cent of the population can't read and write... My network will help me spread the news and the culture.

"I'm taking a year and a half to really produce the demo. Then I'll do a deal in the United States, whether it's satellite or cable... I think Creole is very important. It's sexy."

| Saturday, February 18, 2006

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