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| Participants in family photo with MINCOM & NCC boss |
Organized by the National Communication Council (NCC), the seminar under the patronage of the Prime Minister, Head of Government was guided by the theme: “Child Protection in the Media”.
The seminar brought together actors from different media (Print, Broadcast, On-line), Cable Television Networks, Junior Parliamentarians, Communication Council representatives of neighbouring countries especially Niger, the Ministers of Labour and Social Security, Basic Education, Communication and the Minister of Women Empowerment and the Family, top University professors and doctors amongst others.
According to observation by the NCC, there is increasing dissemination and publication of information that highlight deviant scenes and/or speech, chocking images, utterances that incite violence, and where media are simply exhibiting a lack of information at the expense of children and young people, and improper reporting of phenomena such as epidemics or pandemics, among which diseases like Cholera, Aids or Ebola.
Grounded on these findings therefore, the national seminar on “Child Protection in the Media” was a platform for the National Communication Council to brainstorm with media stakeholders and come up with a strategic guide for various media in the country to protect children in their various programmes.
The justification for the seminar hinges on the fact that the protection of children is part of a complex equation for regulators, given the on-going friction between two functional rights whose guarantors they must be, namely freedom of expression on one hand which is precursor to the right of information, and the right of the child.
The seminar therefore sought to, among other things address the major issues and tailor solutions to the Cameroonian context, for the effective protection of children in the media.
Resource persons at the seminar were renown teachers of journalism including notably; Dr. Nta a Bitang’s who presented on “The Child’s Right to Information and Development”; Prof. Enoh Tanjong who ruminated on “The Impact of Media Content on Children and Youth”; Prof. Christian Abolo Mbita on “Mechanisms to protect children and youths in the audio-visual media”, and Dr. Baba Wame on “Mechanisms to protect children and Youth in the Online media”.
All the presentations dwelled on the various ways in which children perceive media content, the kinds of poor content put on the media, and measures to be taken to effectively protect children in the media.
Among the resolutions of the seminar was the call on parents to maintain dialogue with children to permit the latter to learn the good from the bad. Media organs and regulators were urged to constantly check and counter-check their content (videos, music, pictures) before broadcast or publication; the restriction of children below 3 years from watching television amongst others.
Media Regulators were also challenged to control the kind of commercials/advertorials they broadcast/publish, and their times and days of broadcast.
Apart from the media laws on children set aside by the Cameroon government, it was also recommended that an online media police be setup to help check the online media platform of the country.
Presiding over the seminar-workshop, the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, reiterated the government’s role in ensuring the protection of children in the media. He admonished journalists and media organs to join government in the fight.
NCC: More than just a Regulatory Body?
A salient recommendation made in the presence of the Minister of Communication, was the need for the same body to be in charge of authorizing creation of new media organs and regulating media practice. Here, participants were unanimous that the NCC be given this dual prerogative.
Prof. Tanjong, for instance, pointed out that the NCC was a generic name; it could be changed to Cameroon National Communication Council to make for specificity. He added that if the NCC should achieve greater efficacy in carrying out its duties, the law creating it should be passed by parliament, not by decree, to give it greater autonomy.
For her part, veteran journalist, Jessie Atogho Ekukole of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency ART, opined that with the merging of broadcast media, online media and telephones, one administrative body indeed can easily regulate all media forms in Cameroon; even though, this could put some people out of their jobs.
The Acting President of NCC, Peter Essoka, for his part, encouraged team work and collaboration in the respect of the varied resolutions arrived at, insisting that when the resolutions would have been published, sanctions will be metted on all who go against them.
He expressed fears that the NCC may soon be regarded as a white elephant, a toothless bull-dog, or just an agent of government, if its role is not clearly defined vis-a-vis the Ministry of Communication.
Essoka suggested that a compromise of roles between NCC and MINCOM would bring an end to the uncontrolled proliferation of media organs in Cameroon which only engenders the non-respect of ethics and deontology in the practice of journalism in Cameroon.
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