Buea workshop:

Journalists told to be watchdogs not gadflies

By Sirri NTONIFOR TANGWE (On special assignment 

Media practitioners from six regions of Cameroon have been reminded of their status as whistle-blowers and watchdogs of the society, with a duty to assertively dig out and present well-verified deep truths as a strategy to promote social change. This was the principal message presented in a seminar organised in Buea on October 18 by an N.G.O, AFRICAphonie, in partnership with the British High Commission with the purpose of drilling reporters on how to shed light on human rights and corruption issues by obtaining investigative reporting skills. 

The presidents of the Commonwealth Journalists Association Cameroon and the Cameroon Union of Journalists, Chief Nkemayang Paul and Charly Ndi Chia respectively, were on hand to educate the journalists. As veteran journalists, they recounted their experiences of daring and imprisonment, and painted a picture of the hurdles faced by investigative journalists in the 80s and 90s.  To a man, seminar facilitators and participants identified public interest as the primary basis and rationale for investigative journalism. Brother Singfred, a Mass Communication lecturer at the University of Buea, insisted on the journalist engaging in a process of critical thinking before setting out to investigate a matter. Noting the scant participation of females in investigative journalism, former CAMASEJ President, Patricia Oben, advised female journalists to leave the traditional ‘feminine’ beats they have always been encouraged and assigned to cover, and to venture courageously into investigative journalism despite male chauvinism, not as an affront to men, but rather in a bid to make an impact as professionals.

                The executive director of AFRICAphonie, George Ngwane, reminded the print, radio, television and online journalists present that they are supposed to be advocates for development and called on them to assume their responsibility.