How to 'Kill' an underdeveloped press: Lessons from Cameroon

Abstract

Although technical, professional and financial problems are a common feature with the press, in Cameroon, like most of Africa and the Third World, such problems either result from or are compounded by rigid government control. Using regulatory statements and official declarations, as well as interviews with media practitioners, this article points to censorship as the core problem facing the press in Cameroon. It observes that while the private press is directly stifled by repressive laws and the high-handedness of the censor, the official press is forced to adopt self-censorship by virtue of its being part of the civil service. Either way, the consequence is an atmosphere least conducive to the development and pursuit of professional journalism as an ideal or as practised in the West.