WHO FEARS JOURNALISTS IN CAMEROON?

During his first media outing Cameroon’s Minister of Communication Issa Tchiroma Bakary invited journalists particularly those of the private press to be more responsible and patriotic. Reasoning along the lines "all roads lead to Johannesburg" the minister said the Cameroon government can help the private press to make money if such press becomes responsible and patriotic. And to show the seriousness of his argument the minister parted with tradition and made the press outing simultaneously on state and private television stations.

By SNOWSEL ANO-EBIE

This is not the first time that the press in Cameroon is classified as either loyal or rebel, patriotic or insurgent, well-fed or hungry, state owed or independent, responsible or sensational. The current president of CAMASEJ, the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists, Madam Tricia Oben, says one of her objectives is to bridge the gap between journalists of the public and private press. I have been supervising Journalism students on internship since 2002 and I always try to find out what they intend to do after graduating from university. More than 70% of today’s Journalism students want to end up in the Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV and the remaining less than 30% want to get into things like Advertising, Public Relations, Private Television, or further their education and get into Audience Research or Teaching. Nobody wants to write for a Private Newspaper.

My objective here is not really to re-enforce or amplify the dichotomy between a group of journalists who are seen as trust worthy and another group that is expected to be worthy trusting. My real concern is whether anybody fears a journalist in Cameroon. If somebody were engaged in some wrong doing, or going astray in the presence of a journalist, will that person sit up? Do journalists in Cameroon constitute the Fourth Estate or Fourth Power at all? Is the power of being the master’s well-fed "ngong" dog or of being the toothless bull dog barking "en face" any power at all?

Those who initially described the Press as the fourth power, after the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary thought that in democratic checks and balances, the Press could check the excesses of the other actors. Political Scientists define Power as "the ability to impose one’s will on others" or in euphemistic terms as "the ability to influence others". The Press is thus seen as a power because of its ability to shape and influence public opinion, its ability to set the political agenda, its ability to highlight and comment on the performance of the other arms of government, and its ability to seek and report the "truth" thereby serving as the voice of the voiceless. Logically the Press has so much power and is thus supposed to be feared but who fears journalists in Cameroon?

When one studies the Sociology of Max Weber, Social Status, Social Stratification, and Social Mobility, it is clear that Power does not stand alone as a status conferrer. Social status is a function of three Ps, Power or the ability to impose one’s will on others, Prestige or respect from others, and Property or wealth. If one considers that the Cameroonian journalist is high in Power, high in Prestige, but low in Property or wealth, one will begin to understand why journalists are not feared in Cameroon.

Journalists are not feared in Cameroon because they can be bought. Every journalist has his/her price and any actor who can pay that price has the journalist in his pocket. A journalist’s loyalty is like a commodity in an auction market, ready to go to the highest bidder. Journalists are not feared in Cameroon because they report the "truth" in a way to favour the news actor that provides transportation, accommodation, and pays their out of station allowances. He who pays the piper determines the truth. Journalists are not feared in Cameroon because they have ceased to work for the common good but want to make the most for themselves from a Cameroon that is fast becoming "troubled waters".

Journalists of the private or hungry press are poorly paid and are forced to supplement their incomes by attending "press conferences" where 5000francs and 10000francs notes are shared as taxi money, or to conduct interviews with "generous" news actors who will give them "gombo". Newspaper publishers cannot allow their reporters to write critical or truthful stories about individuals and enterprises that "give" adverts to the newspaper. Even journalists of the official press are more pre-occupied with defending juicy duty posts and lucrative missions than reporting the truth. I have always said that many of the journalists in government employment are locked up in Patron-Client relationships with the Prime Minister or top gun that got them recruited so much so that they cannot practice the kind of Journalism that will embarrass their godfathers. It is not such lame duck output that can ruffle news actors in Cameroon.

At the end of the day, many but not all journalists are not feared in Cameroon because they themselves have made nonsense of the "Fourth Power" by getting too involved and too vulnerable to be independent.