As Cameroon joins other nations to celebrate World Press Freedom Day, many questions are on the table, pending answers. Meanwhile media men and women continue to cry for help; the powers that be sound an alarm on a daily basis against what they call the ‘breach of ethics’ by journalists.

These tensions sometimes extent to the relationship between journalists and their bosses. The former often complain of poor working conditions and very low salaries, and latter lay the blame on socio-economic and political challenges. 

Well, there is no denying that Cameroonians do not have the habit of reading, thoughtless of buying newspapers as such. Besides, we cannot underestimate the difficulty encountered in obtaining adverts (the main source of revenue for the media business) in Cameroon. The fact that journalists are not well paid is common place in Cameroon. But that is not probably what we are celebrating today.

World Press Freedom Day!

During a press outing on Tuesday, the Minister of Communication claimed in very strong terms that “no journalist has been prevented from doing their job” in Cameroon. What he meant by this statement remains a truism to his followers and the contrary to others.

We may not have to mention the case of Ahmed Abba here, given that it has already had more than enough media coverage, and most importantly, because we do not have enough evidence to prove it otherwise. Even so, we cannot stop wondering how often the president of our country accords interviews to private media outlets. Or are journalists of the private media not doing their job? Better still is it not part of their duty to gather information in order to inform the public?

On the other hand, media practitioners in Cameroon are not saints. They seem to be leaving out their target and making a lot of noise.  Not only do they write unverified stories, they also engage in many more unorthodox journalistic practices that make the journalism profession very ugly.  Even so, they may not seem to carry all the blame. Nobody would kill themselves to do a job which cannot ensure their survival.

When your job cannot put food on your table there is cause for concern, especially if there is a second option. This partly explains why most of our colleagues receive money or other gifts to publish fabricated or biased information.