


































Communication, Society and Media 
ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) 

Vol. 7, No. 2, 2024 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm 

144 

 

Original Paper 

Press Insecurity during Anglophone War Coverage in Cameroon: 

Ways to Protect Marginalized Journalists 

Emmanuel K. Ngwainmbi
1* 

1 
Independent Scholar, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA 

* 
Emmanuel K. Ngwainmbi, engwainmbi@gmail.com 

 

Received: July 31, 2024        Accepted: August 14, 2024        Online Published: August 26, 2024 

doi:10.22158/csm.v7n2p144                     URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v7n2p144 

 

Abstract 

As the global media community prepares for World Press Freedom Day 2025 culminating and the 

Academic Conference on Safety of Journalists, attacks on journalists and the profession are diversified 

as never before. Military regimes and democratic governments prevent journalists from accessing and 

reporting news correctly. That scenario exists in the Republic of Cameroon (aka LRC), where some 

eight million predominantly English-speaking people in Cameroon and abroad struggle for recognition 

as a separate nation from the Republic of Cameroon. The struggle has been disfigured by 

misinformation on social media platforms, unreliable reporting of the crises, and journalists having 

limited access to news and information sources. LRC‟s military and pro-independence fighters often 

prevent journalists from reaching affected groups, particularly refugee inhabitants facing inhumane 

treatment by the military, thus possibly fearing backlashes from government officials, human rights 

advocates, the United Nations Human Rights Council, pro-independence groups, and Free Press 

Unlimited. 

Using straw polls, email surveys, and telephonic surveys carried out periodically between January 

2022 and March 2024 on news reporters and journalists serving four independent newspapers in the 

Anglophone region, this presentation shall highlight newsgathering and reporting practices during the 

war. This paper offers possible solutions for the gridlock inter-alia: (i) ways of re-establishing integrity 

in journalism as a credible news bank and (ii) how journalists in nations excluded from mainstream 

social, economic, educational, and cultural life should be protected against punitive activities 

facilitated by international partners, particularly donors. 

Keywords 

war, newspapers, military, journalists, news, source, Anglophone, Cameroon, Ambazonia 

 



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1. Introduction 

1a. The psychology of news creation and press coverage 

News remains the most essential tool human beings have used or relied on to construct, re-construct, 

adjust, or re-adjust their thoughts, actions, feelings, and decisions. No matter what their cultural 

orientation, age, race, creed, belief, level of education, geographical location, or time in the history of 

humanity, homo sapiens capitalize or rely on news to take action or consider immediate, medium, or 

long-term behavior. Thus, we cannot underestimate news-creating structures. Suppose the journalists, 

informants, reporters, channels, and language users turn basic information into something new. In that 

case, we will most likely accept press coverage of any happening as news. What about the conditions 

under which the happenings are recorded or reported? In fragile conditions like war zones, journalists 

are expected to be protected if they do not directly participate in the hostilities. Of course, news media, 

when used for propaganda purposes, must enjoy immunity from attacks, except when they are used for 

military purposes or to incite war crimes, genocide, or other acts of violence. The fact that easy access 

to social media platforms has created a tsunami of news and information flows to eager and unwitting 

audiences and markets alike around the world, with significant implications on users‘ consumption 

patterns and attitudes toward the topics shared, determining political outcomes, including in politically 

fragile nations, emerging communities, and industrialized regions (Ngwainmbi, 2018, p. 29) should 

alarm traditional sources of credible news—the press—historically credited for connecting publics to 

information they need to advocate for themselves, make informed decisions, and hold elected officials 

accountable. 

In a statement published online May 3, during the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, the United 

Nations complained that: 

Journalists encounter significant challenges in seeking and disseminating information on 

contemporary issues, such as supply chain problems, climate migration, extractive industries, 

illegal mining, pollution, poaching, animal trafficking, deforestation, or climate change. 

Ensuring the visibility of these issues is crucial for promoting peace and democratic values 

worldwide (https://www.un.org/en/observances/press-freedom-day). 

That is also why World Press Freedom Day has been dedicated to the importance of journalism and 

freedom of expression in the current global environmental crisis. 

1b. Press Role in Covering News 

Five storylines trigger news coverage—a spontaneous event, senior government official, citizen, press, 

or medium used. The frequency of use determines its importance: how often it is replicated, shared, 

received, and consumed. The press has always had a romantic relationship with conflict zones, mainly 

because each situation potentially has significant news value and is of utmost public interest due to its 

security implications. Conflict is, thus, the adrenalin of the news media. Similarly, journalists are 



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trained to trace disagreements and discords, so they find war irresistible. The media‘s involvement 

becomes more enthusiastic and extensive when war happens in its locale. Many cases supporting my 

position have been recorded in history books for centuries, one being the Kargil conflict between India 

and Pakistan from May to July 1999, which, as Rai (2000) remembers, broke out when the Indian 

media was better equipped to project it on an unprecedented scale.  

Lastly, qualities of nuanced news reporting are observed. In this social media era inundating 

communication platforms and our minds with vast volumes of unprocessed data and information, 

journalists are expected to have the skills to Identify, observe, gather, assess, record, and share relevant 

information. They need vital research and writing skills, ethical awareness, and creativity; they must 

pay attention to detail and remain curious; have the ability to write with clarity, cohesion, and intrigue; 

be inherently curious; can write captivating articles for the audience and maintain curiosity. They must 

be prepared to question pieces of information, even in trusted organizations, and they must be 

persistent and keep going when hunting for information, especially in bureaucratic environments where 

authorities control information that should be public.  

This article analyzes press insecurity in coverage of the Anglophone war in Cameroon, guided by the 

globally known principles of press freedom. It reviews news stories published on the crises. 

1c. Crisis Coverage in Bureaucratic Environments 

Journalists, especially community (citizen) ones practicing pure journalism, are easy victims of the 

oppressor during war or rising political tensions. There has been a remarkable increase in the number 

of journalists reportedly killed or missing in 2022 alone. Its report stated that 533 journalists were in 

detention because of their work. Many women journalists are in detention, a record-breaking rise of 

nearly 30% compared to 2021. According to a Reporters Without Borders report published online in 

2022, an international organization that monitors and reports on press freedom violations, advocates for 

policies and practices that defend the safety of journalists working in dangerous conditions, women 

now account for nearly 15% of detained journalists, compared to fewer than 7% five years ago. 

However, member states of the African Union (A.U.) had affirmed Aspiration 3 of the Agenda 2063: 

―an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law.‖ 

Under the aegis of the A.U., the media stakeholders attending the African Media Convention in Arusha 

in May 2022 canvassed for improved synergies between the media in Africa, governments, internet 

intermediaries, private and public sectors, civil society, national and regional human rights 

organizations, and researchers to mitigate the effects of the digital onslaught on journalism and the 

media. There are documented cases of the press not being given access to crucial information from 

states and political parties that are in the public interest and are essential for public accountability. The 

African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), an African-led, regional non-profit research 

policy institute established in 2010 to help bridge the gaps between research, policy, and practice in 



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development efforts in Africa, has proactively beamed the torchlight on persecutors of anti-corruption 

whistleblowers and supports evidence-based information and press coverage for good governance and 

government accountability. The governance watchdog that operates in 24 African countries, Cameroon 

among them, and whose focus areas include governance and accountability, health and wellbeing, and 

strengthening capacity in evidence-based use for decision-making for Africa to achieve sustained and 

equitable development is not only concerned with promoting a culture where evidence is actively 

sought and used routinely in decision-making suitable investments and transformation of people‘s lives; 

it also assesses bottlenecks in accessing and publicizing data on marginalized populations, political 

crises and institutional biases against freedom-seeking groups. Also, Mziwandile Ndlovu, a Research 

and Policy Analyst working with the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), cites cases 

of African public officials not declaring their finances and political parties not publicly disclosing their 

funding sources. Ndlovu (2023) points to the growing criminalization of free speech online, primarily 

using legislation that purportedly aims to combat ―fake news‖ and ―false news.‖ He further states that 

regulatory requirements for digital media outlets and citizen content creators to be licensed by states 

and to pay fees and levies, coupled with the intimidation, jailing, and brutalization of media workers 

and online content creators, are some of the pressing challenges facing the media today. 

The plight of legitimate news gatherers in situations of armed Conflict continues and cannot be ignored 

if news consumers want to know the truth about the causes and course of the war in their community.  

Accurate reporting is necessary; it requires unfettered access to potential news sources and breaking 

news and reporting it without coercion. While war correspondents are protected under international 

humanitarian law and considered civilians under Article 79 of the Second Additional Protocol to the 

Geneva Conventions, the warring groups, especially in fragile states, do not guarantee their protection. 

Explosives, rogue administrations, and disorderly armed groups in the conflict areas are known to 

ignore the Geneva Convention treaty.  

Journalism is fundamental for sustainable development, human rights protection, and democratic 

consolidation. Still, it remains dangerous and too often deadly. As the global media community 

prepares to observe another World Press Freedom Day, in tandem with the eighth edition of the 

Academic Conference on the Safety of Journalists convened in Uruguay and broadcast online, attacks 

on journalists and abuse of the profession are as diversified and complex as never before. Military 

regimes and some nations claiming to be democratic harass journalists and prevent them from 

accessing and reporting news correctly. We must beam some light on the increasing number of internal 

conflicts, government crackdown on protests, and widespread use of social media in emerging 

democracies; marginalized communities worldwide have made the work of trained journalists. 

Countries with weak political structures and deep corruptive practices continue suppressing the press‘s 



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ability to properly observe, monitor, record, and report facts to inform affected groups and the human 

community.  

1d. Review of Press insecurity in fragile nations and the plight of marginalized journalists 

Press insecurity emanates from the notion that journalists representing the press are human beings. 

Based on international humanitarian law, all human beings have the right to express their political 

views and are expected to be protected from violence. Thus, it is illegal for any military or civilian 

regime to attack journalists and the media, not even in times of armed Conflict. The media law scholar 

at the University of Paris-Sud, Alexandre Balguy-Gallois, accentuates my position in these summarized 

words:  

The illegality of attacks on journalists and news media derives from the protection granted to 

civilians and civilian objects under international humanitarian law. Even when used for 

propaganda, the media cannot be considered military objectives except in exceptional cases. In 

contrast, no specific status exists for journalists and their equipment. Journalists and their 

equipment benefit from the general protection enjoyed by civilians and civilian objects unless 

they effectively contribute to military action (Balguy-Gallois, 2004). 

Balguy-Gallois‘ stance that journalists benefit from protection enjoyed by civilians is, however, utopic 

in that journalists‘ rights are not guaranteed in new nations practicing principles of democratic 

governance; no legal system has successfully prosecuted the military or assassins sponsored to 

eliminate ―marginalized‖ journalists or suspend operations for media houses that blatantly oppose the 

regime.  

Marginalized journalists operate in extreme conditions. The governments typically restrain the free 

press without any legal process. The military routinely arrests journalists and newspaper editors and 

closes their presses; they are locked up with no due process; military tribunals accuse some of the 

dissension and banish some of them for encouraging resistance. 

1f. Cameroon and the Idea of Press Freedom  

Cameroon is among 210 countries and territories where people have access to political rights and civil 

liberties, which means the press, as a critical conduit of democratization, should have unfettered 

abilities to source and report news and information. Two types of public media operate in Cameroon: 

government-owned and private press. The former typically covers news and information that favors the 

regime. Although the Government of the Rep. of Cameroon has allowed individuals and institutions to 

broadcast and distribute news throughout the country and abroad, the Government clamps down on 

reporting that ―heavily‖ criticizes the government operations or identifies massive corruption among 

highly ranked officials, including cronies and persons associated with the presidency. Freedom House‘s 

report published in 2023 rates Cameroon as a ―not free‖ country in terms of journalistic and media 

work. In its report published July 17, 2023, the global organization that monitors threats to press 



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freedom, freedom of expression, and democracy cited NGOs‘ call for the protection of journalists in 

Cameroon ahead of the country‘s U.N. human rights review submitted to the United Nations by 

Freedom House, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the American Bar Association‘s Center for 

Human Rights, with the support of Covington & Burling LLP. The report, released ahead of the 

country‘s Universal Periodic Review in Geneva later in 2023, included the abduction and killing of a 

prominent Cameroonian journalist, Martinez Zogo, whose mutilated body was found five days later. 

The group‘s submission highlights that the killing, physical attacks, abduction, torture, and harassment 

of journalists by Cameroonian police, intelligence agencies, military, and non-state actors continue to 

have a severe chilling effect (Freedom House, 2023). 

1g. The character of the ―Anglophone crisis‖ and press demise 

―Anglophone‖ refers to an English-speaking population, especially in a country where two or more 

languages are spoken. In Cameroon, however, ―Anglophone‖ has been used interchangeably by 

political scientists, activists, journalists, social media, scholars, and socio-cultural groups as people of 

multiple socio-linguistic cum cultural backgrounds, most of whom hail from the predominantly 

English-speaking regions of Cameroon, the Northwest and Southwest provinces (NOSO)—the former 

British Southern Cameroons. Also, ―Anglophone War‖ and ―Anglophone Crisis‖ are used 

interchangeably in this article to denote the burgeoning attacks, armed conflict, killings, and forced 

displacement of civilians in the region.  

On December 5, 2016, Aljazeera.com and Reuters reported that thousands of teachers and lawyers in 

the English-speaking regions of Cameroon were on strike about the Government‘s imposition of the 

French language in schools and courts in the NOSO. On November 30, 2017, President Paul Biya, the 

Republic of Cameroon President, speaking on television, declared war on Anglophone separatists‘ 

followed by public demonstrations involving over 1 million people in the NOSO region. The armed 

military arrested the leaders, and protesters detained them in various prison cells across the Cameroon 

territory. Following the arrests and detentions in 2017, activists created social media platforms, 

including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube channels. They began mainly by expressing outrage against 

the Government of Cameroon. This process culminated in what most English-speaking Cameroonians 

consider a revolution, a struggle for independence of Southern Cameroon, aka Ambazonia. The 

Cameroon government announced measures to appease the Anglophone population, including a 

National Dialogue involving various group leaders within Cameroon and abroad to resolve the Conflict 

and map a way forward. The Dialogue did not result in meaningful action. Anglophone activists 

declared Ambazonia‘s independence and launched a guerilla campaign against the Cameroonian 

defense forces. In short, the frustrations of Anglophones surfaced dramatically after 2016 when a series 

of sectoral grievances morphed into political demands, leading to strikes and riots. 



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The SAIS Review of International Affairs, published by the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced 

International Affairs, Foreign Policy Institute, details the Conflict:  

The Conflict in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon is a civil war that started in 2017 

between Cameroonian security forces and non-state armed separatist groups vying for an 

independent state they call ―The Federal Republic of Ambazonia.‖ Longstanding grievances in 

the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, dating back to the colonial era, re-emerged in October 

2016 in the form of peaceful protests against marginalization, political exclusion, and the 

state‘s preference for the use of French over English. The demonstrators demanded reforms, 

primarily in the education and judicial sectors, but the Rep. of Government‘s response was 

brutal. Security forces have continued indiscriminate arrests, killings, and torture of civilians 

(Mutah, 2022). 

Mutah‘s (2022) report, as well as Human Rights Watch, the United Nations Human Rights Council 

(UNHCR), Amnesty International, foreign news network giants like Reuters, Associated Press, Agence 

France Presse, Xinhua News Agency, Africa News, and other documented sources other than 600,000 

internally displaced persons and efforts to end the Conflict, have not yielded any meaningful strides. 

Religious groups, activists, diplomats, pro-and The crisis has rapidly escalated into a secessionist 

political conflict with the potential to degenerate into a complex emergency, but the timid response 

from Western superpowers, the United Nations, the African Union, and multilateral corporations with 

investments and potential interests in the ever-emerging reports of new minerals in that area has only 

escalating Conflict, promoted propaganda war, and minimized opportunities for peace negotiations.  

Journalists reporting on the Anglophone crises operate in disguise. They rely on periodic indigenes‘ 

text messages and their observations and information shared discreetly about the war. Reporting is 

done through themes related to violence and solutions. The heavy presence of armed forces in the war 

zone prompts potential informants not to share news bits with reporters. 

The photo below illustrates this point. 

 



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Figure 1. A soldier stands guard outside a polling station where Cameroon’s Incumbent 

President, Paul Biya of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party, casts his vote 

during the Presidential elections on Sunday, October 7, 2018. [Source: Alamba/A.P.] 

 

Since 2017, the U.N. and human rights groups estimate that over 800,000 people have been displaced. 

The Conflict has killed over 700,000 people, displaced more than 1 million people, destroyed more 

than 600,000 homes, and rendered at least 4 million out of an estimated 8 million people of Southern 

Cameroon origin unemployed, underemployed, or in severe financial and emotional distress. Briefly 

put, the struggle for independence and maintaining the status quo has been disfigured by 

misinformation on social media platforms, unreliable reporting of the crises, and journalists‘ limited 

access to news and information sources. Unconfirmed reports reveal that state-instructed Cameroon‘s 

military and pro-independence fighters have been blamed for preventing journalists from reaching 

affected groups, particularly refugees and inhabitants facing inhumane treatment by the military. 

A worrisome aspect of the Cameroon conflict is the lack of attention by international actors. Despite 

the brutality of violence, in which children have been prime targets, the international response has been 

worryingly minimal. U.S. Senate Resolution 684 marks a significant turning point. Many researchers 

and political scientists have succinctly documented the dubbed Anglophone crises, including sources 

like the Journal of International Humanitarian Action and the University of Oxford Lay Blogs. Using 

an exploratory, qualitative, analytical, and descriptive case study research tradition involving 

document/content analysis (Bang & Balgah, 2022) applied the Robert Strauss Centre‘s complex 

emergency framework to investigate the potential of the Anglophone crisis, whose ramifications led to 

a warning for an impending complex disaster emergency that could heighten humanitarian challenges 



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unless there is foresight and goodwill by relevant actors to commence a process of adequate 

contingency planning immediately.  

The multilayered, complex nature of the Conflict and gross inequalities continue to exist as 

Anglophones resist and strive for long-overdue freedom. Dr. Roxana Willis, a researcher at the 

University of Oxford and Principal Investigator of the Cameroon Conflict Research Group on February 

17, 2021, admitted that international state actors have been mainly exploitative and infused with power 

imbalance (Willis, 2021). For their part, Nembot, Meh, and Beri (2023) have shared harrowing images 

of the socioeconomic consequences of the Conflict in a report published at OnPolicyAfrica.org (Note 

1), insisting that the desire to reinstate the two-state federation that defined the union between the 

English and French-speaking parts of the country at independence remains sacrosanct among a sizeable 

number of Anglophones. They reveal that the Conflict cause closure of more than 3,000 out of 6,515 

schools; number of secondary school enrolments reduced from 213,277 in 2016-before the crisis to 

2,908 in 2018-during the crisis- representing a 98.6% drop rate; that public and private enterprises like 

PAMOL and the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), with an employment capacity of about 

10,000 people, was partially shut down and 6,434 and 8,000 employees in different sectors lost their 

jobs. (OnPolicyAfrica.org, Dec. 14, 2023).  

Indeed, those conditions deserve a clinical examination because they speak of health and illness in 

people needing help to develop better ways to prevent, diagnose, treat, and detect the dis-ease affecting 

their social wellbeing. Thus, data on the psychophysical and social conditions of persons in the war 

zone is needed to contextualize the role of journalists in the war zone.  

To do so, we must first examine the causes of the Anglophone war to gauge conditions for press 

operations in tandem with human rights violations in that region. The Anglophone crisis can be traced 

back to the Foumban Conference of 1961, where the former British Southern Cameroons reunited in a 

federation with French Cameroun after 45 years of Anglo-French partition of German Kamerun. 

However, Crisis Group Africa, the Associated, Reuters, and other major agencies confirm that the crisis 

that led to the war began on October 11, 2016. 

Here is a snapshot of rapid events exacerbating the crisis. 

❑ December 2016- Marginalization of Anglophone heritage, cultural activities, and ways of life 

leads lawyers, teachers, and civilians to protest enhanced. Anglophone lawyers and teachers 

file complaints about pro-Francophone Lawyers and teachers to the Cameroon government. 

❑ October 1, 2017- 17 people are killed; 50 wounded as the blue and white flag of the self-styled 

Republic of Ambazonia is hoisted in towns across the North West and South West regions to 

mark a symbolic break from Cameroon. 

Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front (SCACUF) declares the 

independence of Ambazonia, naming Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe as president, and SCACUF 



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forms the Ambazonia Interim Government. Sisiku creates an interim Government and begins a 

tour of citizens of Southern Cameroon) in the Diaspora. 

❑ October 2, 2017-the Republic of Cameroon reprimand protesters, fueling the independence 

push in Anglophone Cameroon. The crackdown happens after Anglophone insurgents kill 

soldiers and police officers.  

❑ November 30, 2017, the Republic of Cameroon President Biya declares war on secessionist 

rebels. In return, the Anglophones set up an interim government abroad, declared 

independence for Southern Cameroon in November 2017, and implemented a process called 

Ghost Town—a once-per-week economic boycott and business activities in the Anglophone 

region--to weaken the Cameroon economy and forced negotiations to discuss terms of 

separation. Published scholarship and press reports show that the exploitative socioeconomic 

structure implemented through the European legal regime of slavery and neo-colonial 

processes from Cameroon‘s partition in 1884 to 1916 (for Germany and France); France and 

England (1918-1960/61) continues to structure exploitative relationships in the present, albeit 

in transmuted forms, especially with France‘s influence since Cameroon‘s checkered 

independence. 

❑ Activists create online platforms and begin promoting the Ambazonia independence 

movement. 

❑ January, 2018-Sisiku and ten members of his cabinet are arrested at Nera Hotel in Nigeria, 

extradited to Cameroon, convicted for secession and terrorism by a Rep. of Cameroon military 

court, and fined $500 million. They are currently serving a life sentence.  

❑ 2019-Talks between the pro-Independence groups and Republic of Cameroon representatives 

mediated by Switzerland ultimately fail. 

❑ September 2022, President Paul Biya deploys a military commander and special elite forces to 

NOSO.  

❑ January 20, 2023, Canada‘s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, announces that the two sides have 

agreed to start peace negotiations. 

❑ February 9, 2023, The International Crisis Group announces that Pre-talks between 

Cameroon‘s Government and Anglophone separatists, facilitated by Canada, have opened the 

door to a long-overdue peace process, but Yaoundé has balked. The Government should 

embrace these talks, while domestic and external actors should put their full weight behind the 

initiative. (Crisisgroup.org/Africa, 2023)  

❑ August 2024- Cameroon is beset with more major violent conflicts—Boko Haram insurgents 

in Northern Cameroon, ―The Anglophone war (in NOSO), political unrest depicted in media 

broadcasts, and rising ethnopolitical tensions in the Republic of Cameroon as the 2025 



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Presidential elections race looms, expected to change the political landscape of the country 

and ultimately the futures of the Southern Cameroon communities.  

Public Dialogue about the Republic of Cameroon government acculturating, marginalizing, and 

depleting human capital and natural resources in Southern Cameroon (British Cameroon territories) has 

filled the airwaves and social media platforms for decades, rethatching the argument to resolve the war 

legally. 

 

 

Figure 2. November 23, 2017. Anglophone protesters confront security forces, chanting, “How 

many people will Paul Biya kill?” [Source: Alamba/A.P.] 

 

2. Press Coverage of the Anglophone War 

Well-known Cameroon-born journalists and reporters, including John Mbah Akuro, Innocent Chia, 

Bou Herbert, Remy Ngono, Innocent Chia, Mimi Mefo, Chris Anu, Michel Biemtong, and Boris 

Bertolt, have been disseminating meaningful coverage of the Anglophone war in the Diaspora. Some 

use YouTube, Twitter, and WhatsApp channels to broadcast news on the crises. However, major global 

news agencies have overlooked the war in Cameroon, including local government officials attempting 

to undermine the regional and international significance of the crisis for political reasons. Although 

most local news agencies have not been able to finance reporters‘ travel expenses to the war zone, the 

international press has produced lukewarm coverage of the war because it operates on a cash-flow 

reporting mentality. The crisis-laced news farm with a big economy and diplomatic clout in the United 

Nations deliberation floor gets global media attention. Comparing the Ukraine-Russia war that started 

in February 2022 and Israel‘s launching of an ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip in October 2023 with 

the civil war in Cameroon—U.N. member countries like China and France –on the conflict, living 

would expect the global press to spotlight the crisis. A few Reuters, Aljazeera, Xinhua News Agencies, 



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and Agence France Presse reporters have periodically filed stories on the ―Anglophone War‖, but it has 

not received adequate media attention or the type of support from the international community.  

To assess the extent of press insecurity in the unfolding Conflict in former British Southern Cameroons, 

which some media outlets, diplomats, politicians, pundits, and political scientists have described as 

―Anglophone war‖, ―Anglophone conflict‖, ―Southern Cameroon Independence Movement‖, 

―Separatists movement‖, ―Terrorists‖, ―(NOSO)-Northwest-Southwest War‖, or ―war in the 

Anglophone region in Cameroon‖, we must contextualize the term ‗Anglophone‘ and briefly explain 

the root cause of the Conflict. 

2.1 NewsMedia Challenges in Reporting the Anglophone War in Cameroon 

The Cameroon government has habitually controlled free speech since the country gained 

independence from its colonial masters, Germany, France, and Britain. On January 27, 2017, Aljazeera 

reported that the Government had ordered a cut-off of internet access from the Northwest and 

Southwest communities internet blackout after protests against the marginalization of English speakers. 

The move prevented the local population from using online social network groups to exchange 

information about the protests. As public demonstrations spread, including naked older women 

marching to prevent troops and security forces from harassing protesters, the Ministry of Posts and 

Telecommunications in Cameroon fought back by ordering mobile phone operators (MTN, Orange) to 

warn users not to circulate ―false information‖ on social networks about the crisis. On January 25, 2017, 

Reporters without Borders, an international non-profit and non-governmental organization focused on 

safeguarding the right to freedom of information headquartered in Paris, France, published an article 

online condemning the Cameroonian Government for multiple violations of freedom of information 

amid protests by the country‘s English-speaking minority community. However, the private press, 

especially radio and television networks, have, since 2017, on-the-scene and analytical reports of war 

proceedings. Broad-readership newspapers include Le Messager, Le Jour, The Guardian Post, La Voix 

du Centre, and Radio Equinoxe. Web, Radio Balafon FM 90.3, Spectrum, Canal 2, and other private 

national television stations have produced loud headline captions and grinding pro-independence and 

pro-unitary ideologies about the ongoing war against the so-called separatists.  

The private media and on-location persons are more aggressive than the government-controlled media 

in Cameroon in terms of coverage of the war. Local newspapers, especially in the northwest province 

(also described by Ambazonians as the ‗northern zone‖), are adept at providing daily headlines on the 

war. YouTube channels created mainly through pro-independence activists in the Diaspora also provide 

daily coverage. WhatsApp is the most common channel to spread news and information, usually 

unverified or fake, about the war because of its capacity to carry or store videos and the ease of 

allowing anyone to create content (texts, images). Facebook and YouTube are also standard tools used 

by activists who support or oppose independence. However, articles published by local private 



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newspapers, opinion leaders, and videos shot with iPhones by pro-independence fighters, the military, 

and government media go viral.  

Over Eighty percent (80 %) of stories about the Anglophone war have been developed and shared 

online by pro-independence fighters, public relations representatives, or activists. They make running 

commentary, take pictures of the unfolding fight, record audio messages and videos of themselves on 

location, and forward them to persons on their contact list, who, in turn, forward them to other people 

using their iPhones. Simply put, activists have been using social media to alert, confuse, inform, 

blackmail, or fact-check, seemingly oblivious to repercussions for the freedom fighters, civilians, or 

military bodies.  

2.2 The Demise of Journalists 

Since the dubbed ―Anglophone War‖ started, some journalists covering it went into exile in America, 

Europe, and Asia. They have been using YouTube and other online channels to disseminate news and 

information about the Anglophone war alongside other media outlets. Local journalists covering the 

war have increasingly faced physical, psychological, and emotional reprisals from the 

government-back military and intelligence sources, forcing some to flee the country while some 

journalists on location (also known as Ground Zero) have been tortured, imprisoned, assassinated, or 

coerced to publish news and information denouncing the war and favoring the position of the regime in 

power. 

However, the diaspora-based veteran pro-liberation Southern Cameroon journalist John Mbah Akuro 

has narrated numerous incidents in which the Minister of Territorial Administration assembled 

newspaper editors and journalists and offered them money and a government press release to publish 

that discredited Southern Cameroon independence movement (Mbah-Akuro, February 8, 2023). 

Innocent Chia, another diaspora-based veteran citizen journalist and a former reporter at Cameroon 

government‘s main broadcasting network, CRTV, has consistently used tweets and other e-media 

resources sensitizing various publics on the perils of the dubbed Anglophone War with a view to 

mobilizing a conscientious collaborative effort to actuate and validate the independence of Southern 

Cameroon—Ambazonia.  

Other reports, especially on YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp accounts, and some privately owned 

newspapers detail how journalists disguised themselves and sneaked across the Cameroon border 

seeking political asylum in neighboring Nigeria, South Africa, the United States, France, and Norway.  

In the article published online on July 7, 2022, Amnesty International stated that activists received 

death threats for exposing human rights violations and abuses in Anglophone regions. The 

Cameroonian authorities did not ensure that human rights groups could work without intimidation and 

reprisals. A famous journalist from Cameroon‘s restive Anglophone region was arrested and charged 

with propagating false information and terrorism, arrested and jailed for four days. The arrest of 



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Equinoxe television journalist Mimi Mefo was an attempt to silence media outlets that reported on the 

crisis in that region. Various media outlets, including Africa News and World Forum for Democracy, 

reports show the investigative journalist had opted for the right to remain silent after the gendarmerie, 

an armed military unit with law enforcement duties among the civilian population, accused her of 

reporting false information when Mefo revealed the army had killed civilians in violence, not armed 

separatist fighters, as the military had alleged. 

Some recognizable news agencies have documented reports of journalists covering the war. Here is a 

summary: 

 Moki Edwin Kindzeka published this report on November 08, 2018, at 3:27 PM 

A famous journalist from Cameroon‘s restive Anglophone region remains in jail after she was 

arrested and charged with propagating false information and terrorism.  

 Media rights groups say the arrest of Equinoxe broadcast journalist Mimi Mefo is an 

attempt to silence outlets that report on the crisis in that region. 

https://www.voanews.com/a/cameroon-journalist-jailed-in-anglophone-unrest/4650515.html  

 The Al Jazeera Media Institute documents Jean-Marie Ngongsong, a journalist and radio 

operator, who experienced this at Voice in Bamenda during the crisis. 

―I reported everything without fear before the crisis in 2016. I had easy access to news sources 

and did my work with zest. Since the crisis escalated into an armed conflict with heavy 

militarization of the region, fear of arrest and kidnapping has placed a chokehold on my work. 

Besides the fear of arrest, anti-terrorism laws have also added to the burden of journalists‖. 

(Al Jazeera Journalism Review, https://institute.aljazeera.net/en/ajr/article/1911, retrieved 

02/08/2023)  

Podcasts by activists also mention local informants bribed by some Ministers of the Republic of 

Cameroon intentionally misinform journalists.  

Given the importance of journalists as frontline workers during crises and the well-documented 

experiences of reporters in similar situations elsewhere, this author has documented journalists‘ 

experiences during the ongoing war in Southern Cameroon to help us understand their predicament in 

marginalized environments and possibly find ways of protecting journalistic integrity in such 

environments.  

 

3. Method 

3.1 Methodology Frameworks 

This article is built on the premise that the press is a voice that allows the collection and sharing of 

newsworthy information with anyone else; it protects the right to spread ideas, thoughts, news, and 

perspectives by publishing them. Freedom of the press protects the right to spread opinions, ideas, news, 



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and views by publishing them in a mass-oriented format. Press freedom implies the following 

conditions: (i) there should be no interference from an overreaching state; (ii) the press can seek and 

preserve its rights through the constitution and other known legal forms of protection and security. Free 

press is not paid press, where communities, police organizations, civic organizations, businesses, 

institutions, and governments pay to get their news published or are paid for their copyrights.  

3.2 Data Collection Techniques Used 

This author used electronic tools like telephone surveys and mediated forms like WhatsApp and press 

reports to reach sources. This researcher assembled a WhatsApp contact list through social interactions 

and college times in Cameroon to reach informants in the Northwest and Southwest regions. The 

informants were five local citizen journalists, three former classmates of this author, two priests, and 

six local businesspeople. A questionnaire sought answers to the following questions. 

 How people get information about the crisis 

 How people share information 

 How people use the information they get 

The study‘s main goal was to discern how the Republic of Cameroon used tactics to prevent the private 

press from harvesting news and obstructing observers from sharing data on victims and at-risk persons. 

This author also wanted to know how state officials coerce private newspapers (e.g., photojournalists, 

reporters, and managing editors) to publish content to protect national interests and promote the 

Government‘s agenda before offering solutions for the gridlock, among others: (i) ways of 

re-establishing integrity in journalism as a credible news bank and (ii) how journalists in nations 

excluded from mainstream social, economic, educational, and cultural life should be protected against 

punitive activities facilitated by international partners, particularly donors. 

 

Table 1. Questionnaire for Journalists in Anglophone War Zone 

Name of your newspaper _______________________________ 

Subject  Questions  

Item A: 

Accessing 

news 

Tell us how you collect information on the war in the northwest/southwest provinces-- about the 

skirmishes between the military and ‗separatist‘ fighters to write your news article. 

Item B: 

Reporting 

news 

1. Describe the challenges you face when preparing your article to be published.  

a. Does the Editor ask you not to include some data? 

2. Describe any financial difficulties you have during production  

     i. e.g., when printing the paper,  

     ii. tools you lack to collect information and news about the war 

 



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Item C: Press 

security  

1. Has the military or any secret government agent visited your office? 

2. Have you ever been banned from going where the military is assaulting civilians? 

3. Have pro-independence fighters prevented you from interviewing anyone? If so, why?  

4. Have pro-independent fighters prevented you from interviewing civilians? Why? 

5. Who has threatened you since you started interviewing people and publishing stories about the 

political crisis here? Amba boys or the military or thugs representing a particular group? 

6. Describe any tactics the LRC government uses to limit access to the private press from harvesting 

and breaking news and obstructing observers from sharing data on victims and at-risk persons. 

7 Have you ever been harassed? By whom? 

8. Has your home, office, or family been threatened? By whom?  

9. Explain how local officials coerce your newspaper into publishing articles that protect national 

interests and promote the Government‘s agenda. 

10. Has any informant you interviewed been killed or arrested by government officials? 

11. Has any informant you interviewed been killed or arrested by Amba boys? 

12. Has any informant you interviewed been killed or thugs representing a particular group? 

 

3.3 Clarification on Survey Questions Used 

Q.1: Tell us how you collect information on the war in the northwest/southwest provinces- about the 

skirmishes between the military and „separatist‟ fighters to write your news article. 

This question sought to know whether the military or separatist fighters (―Amba Boys‖) used force and 

intimidation methods to block journalists‘ access to news. For reference, Article 4 A (4) of the Third 

Geneva Convention and Article 79 of the additional Protocol stipulates that journalists are entitled to 

all rights and protections granted to civilians in international armed conflicts. Moreover, Shield laws 

statutes provide journalists the absolute and qualified privilege to refuse to disclose sources used or 

information obtained during news gathering. Thus, journalists were expected to have unfettered access 

to news sources anywhere in that region. 

On the issue of Item B: reporting issues, questions 1 and 2 sought to know whether journalists living in 

the war zone were coerced due to limited access to economic resources and conditions such as ‗Ghost 

Town‘ (every Monday and sometimes more days, all businesses in NOSO do not operate). The press 

house administration may have relied on other sources, like government-led financial assistance, to 

publish government propaganda instead of hard news.  

Item C: Press Security had more probes (12 questions) to assess the extent of press insecurity in the 

region properly. Social media platforms and local newspaper reports seemed to show increasing signs 

of harassment, torture, and intimidation of news sources—journalists and their informants.  

 



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4. Results 

4.1 Description 

i. Summary of how people access news and information on the Anglophone War 

• Social media platforms (YouTube channels, Facebook, WhatsApp messages, Instagram) 

• Newspaper, radio, and television reports 

• Spokespersons: Government and ―separatist‖ groups 

• Hearsay (two-step flow) 

• Public gatherings (bars, church, birth/death celebrations, etc.) 

• Conversations in the bar 

• Conversations at home/interpersonal conversations 

ii. How private journalists gather and report information and news about the crisis 

 Eyewitness accounts  

 Local informants—with phone contacts of reports 

 Amateur videos posted online by Amba fighters and military 

 Stories from social media (e.g., Facebook) 

 Trained ―Undercover‖ Indigenous correspondents 

 Coverage by journalists in the Diaspora 

 Eyewitness accounts 

 Local informants—with phone contacts of reports 

 Amateur videos posted online by Amba fighters and military 

 Stories from social media (e.g., Facebook) 

 Trained ―Undercover‖ Indigenous correspondents 

 Coverage by journalists in the Diaspora 

 Reporting:  

  Printed papers, radio/T.V. broadcasts, podcasts, online newspapers, online T.V. channels 

iii. How government journalists gather and report news and information about the crisis: 

 Government communications (press releases/alerts) 

 Official appearances of public officials (organized meetings, working sessions) 

 Appointed Military officials at crisis grounds reporting to the hierarchy in the Ministry of 

Territorial Administration 

The study found that 80 % of stories about the Anglophone war have been developed and shared online 

by pro-independence groups; almost 60% of news is fake. 

The three assistants visited news houses to interview journalists about how they collected and reported 

the news during the war and explain their challenges. They used questionnaires (See Figure 1).  

Figure 1: Transcript of the interviews:  



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Transcript 1: Interview 1 with local journalist recorded by the Assistant: Saturday, February 4, 2023 

Assistant: I visited the Eden Newspaper office in Bamenda and chatted with the manager, a journalist. 

Question: What are the challenges you face when preparing your article to be published 

Concerning the Anglophone war in Southern Cameroon? 

Answer: 

- Are you a spy? 

- Are you living in Cameroon? 

- Have you not heard of the killing of a prominent journalist in Yaoundé? Where is Wazi Zi, who was 

convocated to report to a police station and, after respecting 

the convocation, his whereabouts up to the day is not known even by his own family. However, one 

year later, the Government announced that he died in Yaoundé. Please, I don‟t want to lose my life. 

Leave my office because I cannot take any risk in discussing or answering any questions from you. 

Other reports on social media and privately owned television stations in Cameroon also discussed the 

journalist‟s sudden disappearance. 

Transcript 2: Tuesday, January 24: Visit the Post newspaper office in Bamenda  

Assistant: Have you ever been harassed by military or Government officials while discharging your 

duties regarding information about the Anglophone crisis? 

Journalist‟s response: (name withheld): Go and get authorization from the Administration, the 

governor, the Senior Divisional Office, or the Divisional Office  

Assistant: Why? 

Journalist: So I can talk without fear. If not, you are a spy and want to destroy my life.  

Assistant: (He knew I could not get this document, so this was a simple way of sending me away.) 

Transcript 3: Visit to Lifetime (a private newspaper) November 30, 2022 

Assistant: Good afternoon, sir. (Managing Editor). Please tell me how you collect information on the 

war in the northwest/southwest provinces—the skirmishes between the military and “separatist” 

fighters—to write your news article and whether you‟re facing challenges. 

Managing Editor: Turns softly; casts a suspicious look. “Are you a journalist? 

Assistant: No. 

Managing Editor: Why? What do you want to do with this information? 

Assistant: Pleading: I am collecting this information so that someone can help us Ambazonians so 

accurate information can help 

Managing Editor: OK, let‟s wait until everyone leaves the office 

Assistant: OK, I‟ll go outside and wait until you usher me back in 

Managing Editor Enters his car and drives off. His secretary declines to give any information since the 

“patron” (manager has left). 



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The Assistant: I immediately left the area, worried the manager might contact separatist fighters to 

pick her up. “They could take me and kill me without asking questions”, her voice recording states.  

Realizing the difficulty of collecting data, the researcher recorded a directive message for Assistant #3, 

who has lived in the region and served as a public health officer for forty years.  

Transcript 4: Recorded by Assistant #3. 

Researcher interview instructions were recorded and sent to Assistant #3 on Friday, January 3, 2023, 

via WhatsApp in vernacular and mixed with English to ensure privacy 

“Visit a newspaper, like The Guardian. Record your interview in the following manner: 

 Went to the manager. Record whatever they said. Write down the difficulties you are 

facing reaching the journalists.  

 Document how often you have visited them and the difficulties you and they are 

facing. Give me their feedback. 

Assistant #3 (recording for the researcher): ―Hey! You said certain words in English. I was scared 

while listening to your voice message. My neighbor is a police officer who rented the flat a few weeks 

ago. Most of them rent houses to listen to private conversations. Things are tough here, new. The phone 

company gave secret police lengthy phone numbers belonging to international owners from France, the 

U.S., and the U.K. The Government has had to rent rooms to listen to private conversations and arrest 

people. I heard people chit-chatting about this while at church last weekend.  

After killing Martinez Azogo, they killed another journalist called Rev. Jean Jacques Ole Bebe, who 

dared also criticize the Government for launching an unjust war in the Anglophone zone and killing 

many innocent people. The story is on Facebook. Go check it‖. 

Source: WhatsApp voice message received by this researcher, January 6, 2023 

Transcript 4: Recorded by Assistant #4. 

These researcher‘s interview instructions were recorded and sent to Assistant #4 on Friday, January 3, 

2023, via WhatsApp, disguised in the vernacular and mixed with a few English language verbs and 

adjectives to ensure privacy 

“Visit a newspaper, like The Guardian. Record your interview in the following manner: 

∙ Went to the manager. Record whatever they said. Write down the difficulties you are facing 

reaching journalists.  

∙ Document how often you have visited them and the difficulties you and they are facing. 

Give me their feedback. 

Assistant #3 (recording for the researcher): ―Hey! You said certain words in English. I was scared 

while listening to your voice message. I heard people chit-chatting about this plan while at church last 

weekend. Can you imagine my neighbor is a police officer who rented this flat a few weeks ago? They 

rent houses to track our private conversations and arrest us. Things are tough here. The phone 



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companies (Orange & MTN) gave the secret police phone numbers belonging to international owners 

in France, the U.S., the U.K., etc. The Government has rented rooms throughout this town for the 

ununiformed police to listen to private conversations and arrest people. People are just disappearing. 

Every day, people find a dead body on the street. We mind our business. If you complain, you might be 

arrested at night”.  

After killing Martinez Zogo, you know. He is Ewondo, one of their people; they killed another 

journalist last Friday. His name is Rev. Jean Jacques Ole Bebe. He dared criticize the Government for 

launching an unjust war in the Anglophone zone and killing many innocent people. The story is on 

Facebook. Go check it”. Source: WhatsApp voice message received by the researcher, January 6, 2023 

Transcript 5: Cameroon Panorama 

Accessing News  

1. I have cultivated sources in parishes across the regions. When there is an incident where I 

cannot reach them, I call them to ascertain the facts. I call many people for the same thing to establish 

the facts. Sometimes, I rely on official sources like government communiqués or separatists‟ 

communiqués. However, I verify the facts from my sources very well because the communiqués are 

often full of propaganda from both sides. Sometimes, when it is secured, I go to the field. Still, it is 

always tricky because we are not protected either by the state forces or separatist forces. 

Reporting news  

1. I have to make many calls to confirm the facts. Sometimes, it takes work to get to my sources. 

Government sources, too, are most often unwilling to accept interviews. I must ensure I do not fall into 

social media news, which delays the stories. Sometimes, victims are afraid to speak because people 

have spoken the truth and have been arrested by either Government or separatist forces. 

a) If the data is not verifiable, I am asked to leave it out. 

b) i) The cost of printing is very high and unstable with the changing price of paper and printing 

materials.  

ii) Most of my sources don‟t have good phones to snap pictures and record interviews that I could 

use. I have to assist many of my sources in getting pictures and interviews. Few graphic designers are 

available, and those who are available don‟t know about journalism, so I have to stay with them 

throughout the magazine layout to be done correctly. 

c) Yes, but we prevented them from having access.  

d) Yes, I have been prevented several times from getting to the scene by the military, which claimed 

it was not safe for me to go there.  

e) i) No. That I should give them money first.  

ii) Not directly. Some civilians are afraid of some of them to speak. 

iii) Anonymous callers who are suspected to be government agents had called and threatened me.  



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c) There is no freedom of information in Cameroon. Government sources hardly release 

information. They always tell you they need authorization from Yaoundé to talk. Some of them refuse 

interviews from primate media organs.  

i) Yes. By the military and called for questioning by the government secret agents.  

ii) Yes, by government forces.  

d.  Sometimes, they send out official communiqués. Once you don‟t publish them, they remove the 

newspaper from government subvention that comes once in a while. Newspapers were not invented to 

cover government events.  

e. Yes. But I cannot ascertain that he was killed because of the interview he granted our magazine.  

f. I am not aware of any.  

g. I am not aware of anyone.  

h. To be assured that I will not be killed or arrested by the state forces or Amba boys if I report 

credible information. I should not be forced to reveal my sources as well. 

Transcript 6: Radio Evangelicum: Jumbo Diocese (summarized) 

Since the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis in 2017, news collection has not been accessible for those 

of us exercising journalism in the crisis-hit areas. As a radio, several factors compound issues 

significantly. The radio does not make much money, and movement is thus tough. 

To make matters worse, journalists have been viewed with much suspicion by both camps- the 

Government and the separatists; all ears of the warring parties feel that a report did not favor them, 

and threats are issued to the radio. The authorities, I mean the local authorities in Kumbo in 2018, 

tried to shoot us up by inviting our reporter to appear before the Senior Divisional Officer with copies 

of the news report. This happened on four occasions before there was an order for the military to get 

hold of the particular reporter. Fortunately, the plot leaked, and the reporter went into hiding. The 

military, however, did not visit the Radio House. It is worth mentioning that the four times the reporter 

appeared before the authorities and the military without papers, he argued his way out. However, he 

didn‟t leave without receiving verbal warnings, never to mention anything on the history of the 

Southern Cameroons, and never again to interview top historians who have a good knowledge of the 

political evolution of Cameroon, particularly the history of the British Southern Cameroons. 

Our reports have never been offered protection by the state authorities at the local level. The military 

threatens when a reporter appears at a scene where a circular or civilians are being assaulted. Our 

reporter was forced to lie looking face upwards in the blazing sun. This happened even though he 

identified himself as a journalist working for Radio Evangelical. He would accompany his Bishop on a 

Pastoral Visit to one of the Parishes. The reporter was insulted, bullied, and threatened by the military, 

who even accused him of collaborating with the Amba Boys. According to the military, the reporter 

should have warned the military of the Amba soldiers‟ imminent attack on the military. 



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On the other hand, the pro-independence fighters have not made it easy for our reporters to function. 

Like the state military, they ask for identification papers and collect the reporter‟s phone, not without 

threats. They once brutalized our reporter for daring to intervene on behalf of his boys. The reporter 

lost a tooth in the assault. 

The most significant difficulty in reporting during this war came from the state side. The authorities 

and the military hardly accept granting interviews. Unfortunately, the reporters are often considered 

sympathizers of the independentists (freedom fighters of pro-Southern Independence fighters, “Amba 

Boys”). 

We are a private media platform. Since the private sector journalists are not given state protection, 

few-breaking news becomes secondhand news from some eyewitnesses who survived the hot 

atmosphere. Therefore, we are left to refer to our sources rather than eyewitness reports. 

Occasionally, our reporter may stumble on a government official, but getting the official to talk about 

the war situation is like trying to squeeze water out of a rock. We are functioning in an area considered 

one of the war‟s epicenters. As such, he can‟t function like reporters elsewhere. We remain targets for 

suspicion. No side wanted to talk to our centers unless it came to warning the reporter while recording 

any voice or against taking autographs. 

Under normal circumstances, reporters of the private sector should have been accorded the media 

personnel. Here, I am thinking of state protection using the military, especially when we must travel to 

the war front. One of our reporters made a 2018 suggestion for prime protection. These men and 

women of the fourth estate should be given free and ready information from the local authorities, the 

local authorities, and the military. Things have begun to change their mind. Local politicians, by 

standards and as a matter of conscience, should be blamed for the U-turn of those who, unlike the 

Amba, are better placed to give out information on the evolution of the war. The local politicians 

tagged some reporters as the opposition. Those who were and are not with the party in power or are 

not in support of the state‟s decision to use force. 

It has been an uphill task for the local press to give the people fresh and up-to-date news reports on the 

war situation because of a lack of trust in the men and women who are said to be the nation‟s fourth 

estate. 

 

5. Discussion 

Political pundits, the private press, and internet platforms discuss sensitive issues, but the media in 

Cameroon is not entirely free. The Cameroon Constitution guarantees press freedom, but in practice, 

threats from government censors, including ministers, directors, municipal councilors, mayors, and 

divisional officers, weaken opposition viewpoints and prevent them from being broadcast in the 

government-controlled media. Independent newspapers actively practice yellow journalism, especially 



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concerning the ongoing ―NOSO‖ war. Daily newspapers are replete with eye-catching headlines and 

exaggerations about ―separatist fighters‖, soldiers, and pro-independence activists in the Diaspora, 

mainly for increased sales, scandal-mongering, and sensationalizing the events to make the war a 

current event and prolong financial investments by the opposing parties in prosecuting the war. In 

addition, local informants use their mouths and cell phones to share news tips with journalists. Still, 

they lack access to sources to collect and report news properly. Journalists are trained to collect and 

distribute news for socio-political public-interest matters due to public non-confidence against 

journalists, fear of repression from the Government, and disguised government informants. 

Government soldiers and officials, suspicious of journalists, do not grant interviews, depriving the 

latter of harvesting and delivering news. These obstacles expose happenings in the war zone to social 

media networking communities and other unreliable sources to infect the public‘s conscience on the 

real reasons for the protracted, underreported ―Anglophone‖ war, visibly ignored by the international 

community. 

Based on the analyses above, including transcripts from the journalists on location, we find that the 

news media in Cameroon, even when used for propaganda purposes, enjoy limited immunity from 

attacks and protection granted to civilians under international humanitarian law. The absence of public 

trust in journalists and their insecurity propagated by state authorities who have fed the public with 

espionage fears and reprimand threats has severely diminished the potential for journalists and 

reporters on-location to access and distribute news and data that could help significant news outlets 

worldwide to have an accurate account of the silenced war that has claimed over 35,000 lives, 

destroyed over 600 villages, retarded education for over 1 million young people and cost over $500 

million in the local economy within seven years. Without a repertoire established for news products 

such as press releases, verified photographs, and interview transcripts) on the ground operations and 

related communications, peace advocates, human rights agencies like the UNHCR, and international 

bodies, including the U.N., may not have a comprehensive record of the ―Anglophone Crisis.‖  

 

6. The Way Forward 

I propose options needed for the protecting journalistic integrity and marginalized journalists cognizant 

of the notion that countries, especially those in developing countries like Cameroon that decided to 

practice democracy, struggle to balance their principles with those of social and economic security and 

are not well equipped psychologically and financially to implement the steps shared in this article 

effectively. I once stated that redefining our local space, group dynamics, and any change in a 

globalized world requires learning how electronic media and its networked communities create, 

dismantle, and shape our identity (see Ngwainmbi, 2023). The learning process includes investing 



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human capital and financial resources, training citizen journalists, and providing funds that do not 

benefit the funding agency.  

No matter the financial standing, environment, or risks in accessing and broadcasting news in the war 

zone, journalistic integrity drives, defines, actuates, and prepares the ground for public consumption of 

true stories that could influence policymakers and increase advocacy and the public‘s actions. For 

journalistic integrity to be protected in marginalized communities, particularly those operating in 

war-torn regions like Cameroon, immediate short-term intervention actions are required to allow 

constructive messages to be shared and proper solutions to the dubbed ―Anglophone‖ crisis to be 

addressed.  

To wit, the UNESCO, in collaboration with UNHCR, civil rights groups, Reporter Without Borders, 

and the Cameroon Association of Media Professionals, should  

► Engage social networking company executives (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok) 

to help filter social media content on events associated with the crisis. 

► Those companies, directed by UNESCO experts, should create a databank on the Anglophone 

Crises for foreign and local media to extract and report on its content. 

► They should create a list of qualified journalists and reporters with verifiable credentials from 

the API, Reuters, Agence France Presse, and UPI, maybe Xinhua News Agency, and empower 

them to post content in the databank—e.g., videos, stories, Press releases, news tips, etc. 

► Set up paid watchdogs to monitor potential obstacles against local informants and journalists. 

► Enforce international justice systems to impose penalties against the state (Cameroon) 

government. For example, the IMF, World Bank, and African Development Bank should 

impose financial sanctions against Cameroon to prevent journalists from collecting and 

reporting on the Anglophone crisis.  

► Each country should provide protection using the military, especially when journalists travel 

to the war front.  

► Each country should hold workshops and train its municipal staff, local law enforcement 

authorities, and local journalists on international media laws, threat mitigation methods, how 

to provide first aid and secure communications methods, 

► Local authorities should have 24-hour hotlines, safety funds, safety equipment, and safe 

houses, and provide legal assistance and emergency assistance to journalists injured during 

work. 

► The International Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders & CAMP should lobby 

the ‗influencers‘ (international financial institutions) to help implement policies that allow 

unfettered access to news and information on the ongoing Anglophone crisis.  



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The private press should receive technical and financial support to process and distribute news about 

the crises-news is power. Accurate reporting can help parties in Conflict correctly resolve their 

problems. 

 

Acknowledgment 

This author wishes to thank all journalists and media representatives who risked their lives by visiting 

war zones, recording written and audio answers to survey questions, and submitting their responses via 

email and WhatsApp. Their affiliation and names are withheld to protect them and their families.  

 

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Note 

Note 1. ―ON POLICY Africa focuses on presenting accurate, balanced and apolitical analysis that is 

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economic affairs, free trade, peace and security, rule of law, international relations, health, gender 

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