Cameroon
The Central African Republic of Cameroon was ranked 138 out of 180 countries in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index (WPFI). Last year, the state was placed in 118 position, signifying an increasing difficulty in journalistic expression in the country.
The international nongovernmental organization (NGO) Reporters Without Borders (RSF) conducts an annual study with the aim of compiling the WPFI. Data is gathered through a questionnaire of media actors and activists in each country and through violence statistics. By analyzing the political and social environment in each state, RSF compares the press freedom levels throughout the world — how safely journalists can produce news without government interference.
Cameroon scores high on media pluralism, as it has many both private and governmentally owned media outlets, according to the 2023 RSF article. Despite that, authorities clamp down on media coverage against political figures and corruption. The country has been under the authoritarian rule of President Paul Biya for 40 years, and his government has been silencing opposition and undermining critical reporting.
The 2023 Freedom in the World report, which investigates the levels of political rights and civil liberties around the world, reveals that the National Communication Council — the state media regulatory body, sanctions and silences journalists expressing criticism towards the government.
Authorities are especially hindering media coverage of the Anglophone crisis — an unrest between the state and separatists from the Western English-speaking part of Cameroon that has been raging since 2017.
Journalists in the Western region are facing lethal threats and legal charges, as they are caught up between dissidents and the military. A joint statement on press freedom by Freedom House, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the American Bar Association — organizations advocating for democracy and freedom of expression worldwide — highlights the killings, harassment and abduction of Cameroonian journalists.
A sinister case is the abduction and murder of the radio journalist Martinez Zogo in January 2023, who constantly reported on the country’s problems with corruption. Zogo’s murder caused fear in Cameroonian journalists, as reporters from the Amplitude FM radio station received phone calls with murder threats from alleged government officials after commenting on the case on air.
Two other journalists, Jean-Jacques Ola Bebe and Anye Nde Nosh, were shot earlier this year, and human rights activists are calling for a thorough investigation, according to CPJ. The dangerous atmosphere and the lack of protection of media workers causes a fearful attitude in journalists and self-censorship of media outlets.
“Despite the fairness of the constitution of our country towards freedom of expression, there is still a general atmosphere of fear considering that a basic offence like defamation is still considered criminal with the potential for long-term imprisonment and huge fines,” said Marion Obam, the President of Cameroon’s Journalists’ Trade Union.
A 2022 CPJ report discovered that Cameroon was the third country in Africa with the most imprisonments and longest detainment of journalists. In the same year, the managing director of the state-owned Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) Amadou Vamoulké was sentenced to 12 years in prison because of corruption allegations. However, activists from the UN and RSF voiced concerns of unfair trial and lack of sufficient evidence.
Cameroonian government uses the state’s broad anti-terror act to convict media workers and deem criticism of Biya’s administration as an anti-state act. Civilians considered criminals by thar law are not allowed a fair trial and are prosecuted in military tribunals, rather than in civilian courts, as the Freedom in the World report suggests.
The pressure on media freedom is further increased by the lack of impartial funding for media. Financial aid is provided to outlets that conform to the government. The 2023 RSF article on Cameroon suggests that government allies create new media channels to financially hinder the work of private stations that criticize the government.
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Gabriela Stefanova is a student in the American University in Bulgaria, double majoring in Journalism and Mass Communications and Literature. Her research concerns how media freedom is impacted by the political and economic circumstances.
