'Journalists should inform and not organize marches'

The solidarity march in support of the army on Saturday was patronized by the general public, politicians, journalist, social activist among other people.

Here's an interview with Franklin Sone Bayen, one of the journalists who were present at the scene.

Q: You just participated in the grand march organized by some journalists to show solidarity with the army against Boko Haram. What are your impressions after this manifestation?

A: I heard the organizers complaining that the ministers, the politicians spoiled the show. You saw that the turn out during the march was not what was expected; it was far below expectation.

It is also true the organizers had announced the march to start at 8.00am. Probably their 8:00 o'clock was the black man’s 8:00 o’clock. By announcing 8:00 am, they thought that by 9:00am or 9.30am they should have mobilized a mammoth crowd for the march. And that’s true because as we talk now, I still see people rushing to the venue. But the presence of ministers and politicians pushed the organizers to kick start the event so they launched the march a few minutes passed 8 o’clock.

You could see the frustration on the faces of the organizers when the army did that. I also think some ministers did not feel very comfortable in the midst of the crowd and they asked for the march to be fast tracked.

I think the ministers came here to spoil the show as a lot of them came here just for a photo opportunity and not to show support for the soldiers. I saw Minister Gregoire Owona happily doing his piece of political grandstanding. Issa Tchiroma also used the occasion to do one of the things he is known to do best. In short, a citizens’ event ended up being ministers’ show.

Q: You are a journalist and this event was organized by journalists. Opinion out there hold that, it is not the role of journalists to organize such demonstrations and that journalists should inform and sensitize citizens, and not go out marching like they did?

A: That argument can be defeated slightly because some of the organizers have been to the Far North and were shown pictures of what is happening. They also visited the military installations in the Far North and made guided tours of the affected areas.

But I regret to say that to the best of my knowledge, no Cameroonian journalist(s) have been at the war front; visiting military camps and affected sites. Relayed information cannot be the same as being at the battle front and seeing how the war actually unfolds. And that is where the journalists in Cameroon have failed.

Journalists are supposed to go to the battle front to report the true picture of the war to the citizens. You realize that because journalists are not able to reach the war front, reports about the war are full of propaganda.

Some people say we need the propaganda to keep citizens reassured. But I think the citizens would be better reassured if they are given facts and figures and shown pictures of how soldiers are really killing the Boko Harams in their hundreds and thousands as the public is made to believe.

That is what the journalist is supposed to do. What a demonstration like this one does to the journalists who organized it is that, it commits them in an undue manner.

Civil society or citizens on their own should come out and organize manifestations like this. What we as journalists are expected to do here is to go to the battlefield and tell the true story; by so doing, the citizens would be mobilized to do what we are doing at the march.

If journalists take upon themselves to organize this demonstration because they think citizens are not sufficiently informed and mobilized by civil society then the journalists are accepting that they have failed in their duty to inform and sensitize; we have failed to sufficiently inform through writing in newspapers, talking on radios, showing pictures on TV and posting information on-line. I want to think that, it was in recognition of this failure that some journalists took upon themselves to organize this demonstration.

Q: Some people said that some of the songs chanted and the slogans on banners were an indication that President Biya was being plebiscited as the man for the Boko Haram situation. What do you think about this?

A: Ehm, President Paul Biya is the commander-in-chief of the army at this time. He is the one in control, whether you like it or not. But if the demonstration is a call for people to vote for him in the next election I think it is a misplaced call.

But if it is to bolster him as the commander-in-chief then I think it is a right thing to do. As journalists, we do not have to tune songs calling President Biya’s name like I heard some people chanting “Paul Biya, Paul Biya”.

Journalists should not do that in principle; when they do that they compromise their independence and neutrality. But you know some overzealous persons will always take advantage of situations like this to try to win favour from whoever and from where ever.