“I Am Recommending A Kind Of Transformation In The Print Media”

Cameroon Tribune is celebrating 50 years of non-stop publication. What is your assessment of the paper?
Cameroon Tribune has been a wonderful newspaper clicking 50 years of existence. I have been imagining the type of impact the paper has had on the lives of many Cameroonians and the world. Dealing with professional reporters, editors, managerial and executive staff. I do read Cameroon Tribune while in Nigeria because Cameroon is a neighbouring country on several frontiers. So Cameroon Tribune has contributed immensely in the political, economic, social and cultural lives of the people. The paper has been able to wax progressively to become one of the way sure newspapers not only in Cameroon, but in Africa and beyond. The impact is not only in people's lives, but also advertorial because it has helped people to make their businesses known as well as making people to be aware of what is happening in their surroundings. So I have a positive thinking and opinion of the paper for the great services it has been rendering.

As one of the panelists for the symposium, what contributions did you make? 
My presentation focused on the challenges of print media in a politically pluralistic society and Anglo-Saxon in nature like Nigeria as well as the ways and manner through which these challenges can be curbed. So I tried to look at the inter-play as well as the ambiance of political pluralism. You know Nigeria and Cameroon share a lot of characteristics. Since we are heterogeneous in terms of people, there is need to know what print media suits this demographic structuration, because we are different people and these journalists come from different ethnic, tribal or even regional groups. So what is the influence of the media to these particular demography, what is the influence of Nigerian media? Because now days very few people buy newspapers.

The coming of the technology is threatening the existence of the traditional media. What can be done to curb the influence?
Many people these days are no more interested in print media due to the digital revolution. Most people now rely exclusively on the internet. There are solutions to this because if you want to curb the influence, you have to adapt to the changes. That is why I am actually recommending a kind of transformation in the print media in the sense that you go digital by making provisions for people to subscribe and also try to expand by introducing radio and even television content to have a wider coverage. This would permit even people who cannot read or write to be informed through the major language or in multiple languages depending on the targeted population. You can also go TV to create another space for those who are able to only watch TV. There are people who leave their homes early in the morning and only return home in the evening. That is the only time they can watch news. So if Cameroon Tri...