Cameroon – CAMASEJ Workshop: Journalists Trained To Uphold Historical, Political Accuracy In Reporting Anglophone Crisis

Par Atia T. AZOHNWI | Cameroon-Info.Net
BUEA - 13-Sep-2021 - 12h51   2164                      
2
CAMASEJ schools journalists on crisis reporting CAMASEJ
No fewer than forty journalists have been trained to uphold historical and political accuracy in reporting the socio-political crisis in Cameroon’s North West and South West Regions.

Saturday’s workshop in Buea was organized by the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ with support from the Prime Minister, Head of Government Chief Dr. Dion Ngute Joseph.

Celebrated Professor of History Victor Julius Ngoh, President of the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB), and eminent political scientist Dr. Munjah Vitalis Fagha, Lecturer at the Department of Political Science and Comparative Politics at the University of Buea schooled the media professionals on the historical and political evolution of Cameroon.

Prof. Ngoh rubbished unfounded reports that the ballots for the 1972 referendum read “oui” and “yes”.

"At the 1972 referendum, they were actually two ballot papers. The white for ‘yes’ and ‘oui’ and the black for ‘No’ or ‘Non’. When I hear people say they want to restore the independence of Southern Cameroons, I am shocked because Southern Cameroons only became independent by joining the Republic of Cameroon," said the professor of history.

While blaming some poor political decisions taken by the politicians of the old, Prof Ngoh said the current crisis is the result of rampant corruption and mismanagement of the country with deliberate efforts to wipe the identity of English-speaking Cameroonians.

The workshop facilitators wondered why President Amadou Ahidjo drafted the Foumban constitution and handed to the Southern Cameroons Delegation to study given that Southern Cameroonians were enlightened people who had attended several conferences in and out of the country.

Be it as it may, Prof Ngoh and Dr. Munjah said the ongoing wave of violence in Cameroon’s North West and South West Regions is not the way to go.

"We are orphans. No diplomatic service has been able to recognize or table this problem before the UN Security Council," said Dr Munjah.

According to him, if intellectuals like Agbor Balla were in the bush, just maybe the international community would have taken the issue more seriously.

"The people who started this, teachers and lawyers, are back at work.  So others should think twice," he said.

The two university dons cautioned journalists to stop blowing things out of proportion as the international community has turned a deaf ear to the crisis. They both wondered how those who came as liberators are now causing untold havoc to the population.

The Anglophone crisis that started in May 2016 has claimed no fewer than 3,000 lives and affects directly or indirectly the lives of more than five million Cameroonians.

Amindeh Blaise Atabong, an international freelance journalist briefed colleagues on safety and security protocols while reporting in red zones.

Jude Viban, National President of CAMASEJ said the subject of the workshop was chosen based on the fact that media professionals had not shown mastery of historical and political accuracy in reporting the crisis in the North West and South West Regions.

"We discovered that the conflict has been going on for almost four years now and it is based in our common history. We as reporters need to know and master the history and the facts because as journalists, we have to report the facts. We realized that in most of the conversations online, they're a lot of deliberate lies about our common history and that these lies sometimes find some soft landing with journalists who do not know what the facts are," said Viban.

Auteur:
Atia T. AZOHNWI
 @T_B_D
Tweet
Facebook




Dans la même Rubrique