CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Martin Luther Mbita, Cameroon, June 1998
THEME = MEDIA
Cameroon's journalists met with the Prime Minister
in the hope of a better future for their profession
8 May 1998 was a historic day for Cameroon's journalists. Five days after the World Day for Press Freedom, several members of the Union of Cameroonian Journalists (UJC), led by their president, Ahmadou Vamoulké, handed to Cameroon's Prime Minister, Peter Mafany Musonge, a Memorandum concerning the problems facing Cameroon's Press. Until now, journalists and the country's governing authorities have never met to discuss these problems.
First on the list of situations demanding immediate attention, were matters dealing with violations of the Press Law. Cameroon is one of the few countries in the world where journalists are hounded down and thrown into prison like common criminals. Worse still, journalists are only given five days in which to submit evidence on their own behalf when they have been accused of libel. The plaintiff, on the other hand, has three years in which to gather evidence for proceeding against the accused.
The UJC is asking the authorities:
1. To penalize violations of the Press Law and to uphold the authority of the courts in these matters;
2. To establish special courts for judging violations of the Press Law;
3. To suppress sentences whereby a journalist can be sent to prison when he/she is accused of some misdeed while working as a journalist.
4. To change the law so that it's up to the plaintiff to establish proof of the journalist's guilt and not for the journalist to have to prove his/her own innocence.
5. To ensure that Law number 90/052 of 19 December 1990, dealing with social communications in Cameroon and guaranteeing the editorial staff's immunity, is enforced.
In Cameroon, control over Radio and TV is still the State's preserve. Whereas in other matters there has been an opening up to other influences, control of the airwaves is a sticking point for Cameroon's government. And yet, Law number 90/052 opened the way for a liberalization of state-control in this sector. Eight years on, we're still looking for this particular Law to be enforced.
Journalism is one the few professions in Cameroon which has no official status nor collective agreement. Journalism and journalists are looked down on by the country's authorities. Why? Well, they say, anybody can put pen to paper - you don't need any training for that! And some people think that once they've had something published then they can call themselves a journalist! And because journalists have no official status, even the press bosses take unfair advantage of the journalists they employ.
Salaries vary according to the publication you work for - anything from 30,000 to 50,000 CFA francs per month. That's not enough to keep body and soul together, let alone supporting one's family. So a journalist is obliged to use additional means to get money. What happens? Instead of reporting events as they occur or providing background information to these events, the journalist proceeds to extol anybody and everything which comes his way, in the hope of getting a bit extra by way of cash. Instead of "communicating" real news, the journalist "embroiders" even what is bad.
Cameroon has both an independent press and a state-run press. But it must be emphasised that journalists in both sectors meet with similar problems. Those working for the independent press are accused of working with the Opposition; those with the state-run press are called "stool pigeons" of the party in power - not that they have much choice because if they don't toe the party-line, they'll be sacked.
A number of radio and TV journalists refused to become party stooges and so had to leave the Cameroon Radio and Television Service. They either had to look for alternative work in Cameroon or take-off for exile in Europe or the United States and look for work in some aspect of the Media there. The fact is - in Cameroon, if you want to get anywhere in the Media and if you want to have easy access to information so necessary for your chosen profession, then you've got to support the party in power.
Generally speaking, Cameroon's Press is experiencing enormous difficulties. In order to face up to these difficulties, journalists, both in the independent and the state-run press, instead of arguing among themselves, should be working together. If they don't, then in no way will the dream of ending Cameroon's press purgatory become a reality.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement