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. The Fugees star paid $2.7 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."

In other news, Wyclef is set to add heritage author to his impressive resume after discovering there are no good travel or cultural books about his native Haiti. Jean was appalled when he couldn't find one book detailing the rich heritage of his homeland on a recent trip to his local Barnes & Noble bookstore, and so Wyclef has taken it upon himself to pen a culture guide.

He says, "I love writing, so one of my missions in the next three or four years is to write a book. It's going to be told from a point of view of me and Haiti. Growing up there, you don't have any money but you're just happy with so much spirit. I took my wife to the little, tiny, small village where I'm from and I remember going to school and I'd have to walk in a puddle. They put me on a donkey so I wouldn't walk in the puddle. The book will be full of memories like that - a love story to Haiti."

The Fugees star has become a local hero in Haiti after setting up the Yele Haiti charity to help fund the island's poorest areas and buying the nation's leading TV network with a view to covering corruption news stories.

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)