Critical Perspectives on Cameroon Writing

33. A Survey of Cameroon’s New English Language Newspaper

441 33 A Survey of Cameroon’s New English Language Newspaper by Menang Thaddeus, Department of English University of Yaounde I Abstract After more than 30 years of existence. Cameroon’s English I newspaper has come through a number of changes. There have been periods of newspaper proliferation and periods when newspapers were rare to find. going boom in newspaper publication started after 1990 and promises to c face of the Cameroon English language newspaper. More titles appear in the as the months and years go by. The quality of information and the language in it is delivered have improved. But the English language newspaper may gain quite as much in terms of objectivity. 1. Origins and Landmarks The maiden issue of the first English language newspaper published in Cameroon appeared in Victoria on December 9, 1960. According to Gwellem (n.d.), seven patriotic Cameroonians joined hands to start a printing and publishing company which undertook this venture. They were V.E Muteke, V.C Nchami, A.W. Njikam, D.A. Nangoh, E.M. Kemcha, V.A. Ngu and Lifio Carr. The newspaper first appeared under the name Kamerun Times and had Sammy Chumfong as its founding editor. About this historic event, V.C Nchami (1972) writies: As early as 5 a.m. on the morning of the 9th of December 1960, an anxious crowd waited in front of a small wooden structure in Church 442 street to read for the first time a newspaper printed in Cameroon by Cameroonians. The paper later came to be known as Cameroon Times and shortly after its finding, on January 20 1961, Simon Dikuba replaced Sammy Chumfong as editor of the paper. That historic date in 1960 saw the birth of an English language press in Cameroon. In 1994, more than 30 years later, the Cameroon English Language newspaper seems to be doing fairly well, with some eight newspapers appearing once or twice a week. The semi-official Cameroon Tribune appears almost daily, while a number of news magazines and newsletters appear sporadically. Between 1960 and 1994, the English Language press has witnessed ups and downs occasionally going through critical periods during which it was threatened with extinction for various reasons; the principal ones being poor funding and sever censorship regulations. Thus newspapers after newspapers sprung up and, after a few years of seemingly prosperity, disappeared from kiosks. At this early stage, a few newspapers survived for up to four years. Among the exceptions then were Cameroon Times and Cameroon Outlook which was founded in 1969. Unfortunately, both newspapers have ceased appearing for several years now, after having survived, against all odds, for 20 to 25 years. The English language newspaper press in Cameroon has witnessed two periods of boom. The first occurred between 1965 and 1975, a period which saw the launching of about 20 different newspapers. After 1975, these papers began to disappear one after the other under the weight of poor funding, excessive censorship and amateurism on the part of the publishers and editors. In 1981 when a presidential decree ordered newspaper publishers to re-apply for authorization to continue to publish, only four papers, the semi-official Cameroon Tribune launched in 1974 and three private ones, were granted this authorization. The private newspapers were Cameroon Times and Cameroon Outlook published in Victoria and Cameroon Post published in Bamenda. The second boom started in 1990 when a series of new laws not only newspapers. Today, Cameroon counts some of eight weekly or bi-weekly (appearing twice a week) English newspaper of which the oldest is Cameroon Post. The Herald is most prominent 443 among the papers that have sprung up within the last two years. The semi-official Cameroon Tribune today publishes a daily bilingual (English-French) edition. It has considerably shrunk in size as a result of an acute financial crisis. A publishers, editors and writers have left their mark on the Cameroon English language newspaper press since its founding in 1960. After founding Cameroon Times in 1960, Sammy Chumfong stepped aside and allowed the first two decades to be dominated by publishers, editors and writers such as S.N. Dikuba, J.F. Gwellem, Tataw Obenson, Wem Mwambo, E.M.A. Epie, A.W. Mukong, and Peter Mabu. Dikuba took over Cameroon Times from Chumfong in January 1961. He was later joined by Gwellem and both of them ran the paper, often together and sometimes separately, for...