Cameroon’s National Communication Council (NCC) has endorsed an initiative to revamp the journalism profession with the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ).
This decision was taken during a maiden working session between the NCC and the Yaounde Chapter of CAMASEJ on February 26, 2015 at the NCC headquarters in Yaounde.
In a welcome address to CAMASEJ-Yaounde members, Mr Peter Essoka, Acting President of the NCC reiterated the consultative and regulatory roles of the institution, which are being implemented progressively.
The NNC boss, in the presence of his staff, encouraged journalists to safeguard the noble profession that is being tarnished with haphazard and unethical acts such as defamation, slander, wrongful accusations, blackmail, rumours and witch-hunting.
He advised journalists, especially English-speaking journalists, to upgrade their language, decency and settings. “I would be glad to sell 100 credible newspapers than 1,000 newspapers of rubbish,” he said.
The meeting took place a day after the NCC published a communiqué to sanction some journalists and media organs. Mr Essoka seized the opportunity to explain that NCC sanctions; a collegial decision, are considered as the last resort to regulate media practitioners.
He thanked CAMASEJ-Yaounde’s approach to dialogue and stated that “the strength of any profession is associative.”
On his part, Mr Simon Lyonga, President of CAMASEJ-Yaounde applauded the recent decisions taken by the NCC to suspend some journalists and media organs that had defied the deontology of the profession. He however wondered if the NCC was a “toothless bulldog”.
Clarifications were made by Dr Jean Tobie Hond, Permanent Secretary General of the NCC to counter the toothless bulldog theory and illustrate how efficient the body is run. He outlined, with examples, the NCC's modus operandi in solving litigations.
Suggestions were made to the NCC to ameliorate its tasks. For instance, CRTV’s Bennen Buma made an appeal for an NCC award of excellence to outstanding journalists, while The Post’s Kini Nsom requested that the NCC should support journalists who are being intimidated by powerful politicians.
Mr Essoka’s response to these pleas was positive and he promised to continue dialoguing with all the stakeholders to revamp journalism practices in Cameroon. “This first contact is like watering a seed. I know it will grow and journalism will not be killed in Cameroon” he said.
