Response to Conspiracy Accusations:

Equinoxe CEO Spits Venom at Atanga Nji

The General Manager of Equinoxe TV, Séverin Tchounkeu has said Equinoxe and its team are professional and will remain committed to their profession.

               

The General Manager of Equinoxe TV, Séverin Tchounkeu

“Relaying a report from an international organisation does not make you partisan. The role of the media is to set the record straight and give the platform to everyone, which is something Equinoxe TV has never failed to do,” Séverin Tchounkeu said on Equinoxe TV in response to Atanga Nji’s accusations on Monday.

                The Minister accused Equinoxe and other news houses including STV, Radio Balafon and Le Jour newspaper, alongside local and international NGOs of plotting to destabilize Cameroon. But Severin Tchounkeu retorted that Atanga Nji hasn’t the prerogative to assess the work of news houses, talk less of having the requisite knowledge of the ethics and deontology of journalism practice.

“We were the only media house in Cameroon that took the risk and pain to go to Ngarbuh and investigate the killings that happened there…. But we took it upon ourselves not to broadcast a large part of the elements we brought back from the field….I am ashamed of what is going on in this country and I come here to express my total indignation. I challenge the Minat to go to the regulator and find out which news houses can be compared to Radio Mille Colline.”

                “The Minat is neither our supervisory authority nor is he the regulatory body. I think that the Minat is sufficiently informed to be aware of this….. They are trying to associate me with a political party simply because I come from the same region like its leader. How come a TV channel that is always invited to cover the Minister’s activities be accused of being against the interests of the Republic? How come somebody who was chosen by government to head the Press Cards Commission, a commission that decides who becomes a practicing journalist in Cameroon, be accused of plotting to destabilize the government? What inconsistency? I wonder what the government defines as patriotism. But we will keep relaying the facts in strict respect of the ethics and deontology of our noble profession.”

                “Relaying the report of an NGO does not amount to sharing the opinion contained in that report. I think we have to wonder about the patriotism of some of our ministers. It is not because one is a minister that one should think he is more patriotic than all others. Those who throw fuel on the fire are not necessarily those who are pointed at. We will report on everything that is happening, I mean everything. We will never fail,” concluded Severin Tchounkeu in very vexatious terms.

                Many have questioned the role of the National Communication Council, NCC, stating that it should be the body checking on media organs and not the Minat.