Tche Irene Morikang
5 May 2008
column
Each year, the World Press Freedom Day provides an opportunity for media professionals to reflect on issues of press freedom and professional ethics.
And so, media persons in Cameroon last Saturday, 3rd May, took some time off for a retrospect look on their daily lot. And needless to say Cameroon's media landscape is a world of variety and contrast. Variety in numerical strength. Contrast of editorial options. Newspapers, there are in abundance in Cameroon. Four dailies and 601 other papers, with some as sporadic as the reasons which oblige them to publish! Radio and TV stations, the latest products of liberalisation, are mushrooming. 68 radio stations, six TV channels, 17 audiovisual production houses, 47 tele-distributors, 30 cyber papers... Information flow is abundant. Taboo subjects are virtually inexistent! Gone are the days when newspapers used to come out with blank pages. Gone too are the days when broadcasters used to be whisked off from studio to prison.
Press freedom in Cameroon is a reality. We've come a long way! The British High Commissioner, Syd Maddicott, testified to this last Wednesday in Yaounde during a dinner to celebrate the World Press Freedom Day. Said he: "Here in Cameroon, the country benefits from a largely free media - freer than in many countries in Africa". Laudable. The base for good journalistic practise is guaranteed. An indication that government is bent on nurturing the political option for a free press. The decision to reinforce the role of the fourth estate is palpable. As Albert Camus, French-Algerian philosopher and journalist who won the Nobel Prize in 1957 rightly puts it: "A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad".
As we all know, freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to an end; that of achieving a free society. So, what have we, media persons in Cameroon, made of this freedom? Have we been playing our role; that of being society's watchdog, well? Yes, and no. Yes, for the thought-provoking in-depth investigations which most often have served as an eye-opener to government. Yes, for all the useful information that Cameroonians are served daily. But no, if we take a critical look at our newsstands or monitor some of our local radio and television stations. Press freedom is haunted by pressmen themselves! In effect, some media houses, and by implication, those who run them, are still to rightfully play the role that is theirs in society. For, how can we explain the fact that sensationalism has taken us hostage? Thrilling front page captions, void of substantial information, is en vogue. Blackmail, defamation and indecency have taken the upper hand in the practice of the profession. What about entire publications based on rumours and "journalists" who parade events and take organisers captives? Some newspapers have even been transformed into propaganda instruments of lobby groups!
There is need for the media to sit up. It all begins with journalists being able to live from their trade. How can a media person who earns less than FCFA 30,000 and living in a metropolis like Yaounde not be tempted by a few francs from an influential person? And as we all know, he who pays the piper can always dictate the tune! Will the collective convention in the domain, which is in gestation, be the way out? But before this happens, publishers and owners of television and radio stations should strive to give their workers decent wages. As the Minister of Communication, Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam rightly puts it in his speech on the occasion of the World Press Freedom day, "It is time to put an end to the exploitation of journalists".
The profession is also flooded by people of doubtful origin and motive. The press card was expected to flush out such charlatans from the profession. But years after its introduction, nothing much has changed. As for ethical concerns, the Cameroon Media Council definitely has some teething work on its table. Needless to say before playing the role of watchdog in our society, the press should be exemplary. It is a challenge we must face. Our budding democracy depends on it. As Corazon Aquino, political leader and President of the Philippines (1986-92) once said: "Freedom of Expression - in particular, freedom of the press - guarantees popular participation in the decisions and actions of government, and popular participation is the essence of our democracy". The task ahead is enormous.
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