Cleansing the Press House

Journalists across the national realm yesterday September 13, 2012 began a seminar under the theme: "Stakes and challenges of regulation in the media: Towards a responsible media."

Media critics will readily say another opportunity to do some speechifying or talking learned and learning people virtually out of their breath has come. For, far too often, the themes are hackneyed, coming from a sector which never really seems to benefit from all the whistle-blowing around.

As yesterday's workshop was being announced, the Minister of Communication was annulling another one initially convened to address national, regional and international norms on human rights, press freedom and media ethics. There must have been an incidental concentration of these issues around the press. But it is also well known that the operational environment of the press in Cameroon is characterised by numerous shortcomings, least of which is not the credulity that has been lost in the eyes of the public by the inability of the various actors of the press scene to posit an image worthy of trust.

If it is not unverified information, it is an unexpected incursion into the private lives of citizens. If it is not the abstraction of a police report furnished by a crony, it could be the imposition of a personality through the publication of a profile that only highlights their positive aspects. There are many openings through which the press has exposed itself rather negatively. And yet the press is necessary, not only as being responsible for chronicling the daily activities for those who cannot follow these, but also as a check to the excesses of those in authority and deviant behaviour in society.

Does our press, as it presents itself today, deserve this noble and dignifying role? The answer is a blatant no! Training and regulation seem to be the most immediate causes of the journey down the drain. One must understand the present state of Cameroonian journalism from the standpoint of its genealogy. Cameroonian journalism started in earnest, in the early years of the fight for independence by decrying the abuses of the colonialists. After independence, rather than accompany those who had replaced the colonialists and in the face of the numerous abuses and misconduct exercised by the new leadership, Cameroonian journalism remained essentially in a protest posture.

This is probably why in spite of attempts to make communication and journalism a veritable science as is the case in many other parts of the world, the Cameroonian media is largely influenced by trade unionists, political and civil society actors and the like. To the extent that rather than leave the role of the press exclusively in the hands of media professionals, several other actors fighting for the social and political transformation of the society easily see the press as the sole mode of expression. And this explains the complexity in instilling discipline in the sector.

Numerous palliative measures have tended to fail. These do not only include governmental initiatives very often suspected and rejected by media people, but also those taken within the profession such as the creation of the Cameroon Union of Journalists and its ethics fighting arm, the Cameroon Media Council. All of this is needed is to give existing regulatory bodies the necessary arsenal to fight resolutely for the installation of durable measures accepted by all.

Initiatives such as the current Yaounde seminar must be encouraged. But above all, such institutions must be given stronger teeth through appropriate financing to ensure that their actions last and do not just meet the demands of the moment. Such action is necessary if the muddle of the press, piled up for so many years, is considered for clearance now.