Reporting Anglophone problem:

Peter Essoka warns newspapers to toe gov’t’s line

President of the National Communication Council Peter Essoka

The President of the National Communication Council has warned that newspapers and TV stations that continued to fuel the crisis in the Anglophone regions will have their licences suspended.

                Peter Essoka gave the warning in a communiqué broadcast on state radio, crtv, on Friday January 20. He said defaulting newspapers and TVs risk sanctions ranging from temporary suspension to permanent closure of their activities.

                The Government-created media watchdog listed The Guardian Post, The Times Journal, Cameroon Post [The Post], Le Messager, Canal2. Equinoxe TV, STV and some local radios as the news houses that have so far been publishing “seditious and disturbing content” that undermine the integrity of the state during the ongoing Anglophone crisis.

                Essoka observed that these media organs have drifted away from their obligation to remain apolitical, and were now reporting on things that have to do with secession or federalism.

                He charged territorially competent authorities to watch over these and other defaulting news organs and make sure they toe the government’s line.

                Reacting to the warning, the publisher of The Guardian Post, Christian NgahMbipgo said: “It is shocking what I am hearing; this simply means they don’t want us to cover the events in NW and SW regions. But if that be the case they should tell us straight and clear rather than trying to intimidate us with warnings that we hardly deserve.”

                Though we could not get other publishers to react, we learnt from reliable sources that the management of Equinoxe TV has decided to stop reporting the Anglophone crisis henceforth.

                Essoka’s firm warning comes barely days after local authorities on 10 January banned the activities of Radio Hot Cocoa in Bamenda for inciting the public into rebellion.  The doors of the radio are still closed even after the NCC had lifted the ban and only suspending the queried program.FollowingEssoka’s warning, it is now feared and speculated that many news channels might be closed down temporarily or permanently if they are judged as not toeing the editorial line imposed by government.

                It should be mentioned that in a desperate measure to arrest the festering effect of the social media, internet access has been shut down in the North West and South West regions for over a week now. This is already causing untold difficulties for many news organs as they find it difficult liaising with their reporters in these regions. Apart from the media, banks, money transfer agencies and many other service providers have been completely ligatured from mainland Cameroon.