DOH JAMES SONKEY
Communication Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi has told media owners in Cameroon to refrain from publishing news that tarnish the country’s image and undermine government’s efforts towards the restoration of peace in the country and development efforts.
The Communication boss was speaking to media owners and their representatives last June 20, 2019 during his first contact meeting with them since his appointment as Communication Minister.
Addressing his guests, Minister Rene Sadi regretted that “the Cameroonian press, notwithstanding its plurality of tone, great diversity and editorial abundance, unfortunately seems to have in some places and at some times, stepped off the trail, departing from its basic mission to inform, educate and entertain the masses.”
He further frowned that “regarding the many security and sociopolitical challenges facing Cameroon today, and the recurrence of media abuses observed here and there, in flagrant violation not only of ethics and code of conduct of journalism, but also of the professional principle that sanctifies the facts, another observation must be made by the entire national community, in which, day after day, the Cameroonian press is on the verge of being bogged down in calls for hatred of others, promotion of cultural isolationism and inward looking, which are dangerous catalysts of tribalism.”
Rene Said underlined that “The axes of media discourse in Cameroon, when tinged with manipulation and disinformation, false and degrading allegations, even systematic anathemas against all the values of the Nation and against the Motherland, are unequivocally one of the sources of disorientation of national public opinion.”
Reassuring media owners of government’s efforts to see that the financial package for state subsidy to private communication is increased and that peace is restored in the country, he urged them to be messengers of good news.
Stressing that “Cameroon needs a credible and responsible press that knows how to embody its fundamental values in order to preserve our global balance,” Minister Sadi reminded journalists in the national territory that “there can be no democracy without press freedom, but also that there can be no freedom of the press without journalists being responsible.”
On their part, media owners after listing some grievances to the Communication Minister pleaded that government allows professionals to freely organize an auto-regulation of the journalism profession in the country.