Four Two Half Day Buea Bonaberi Peace Journalism Seminar
(CAMEROON)-Let me explain the headline. We had to move our four day peace journalism seminar scheduled for Buea, where there is violence, to Bonaberi, which has been calm. In so doing, we had to cut the seminar from four to two days. Then, the cops raided the seminar and shut it down after a half day. (See previous posts)

 

Even with just a half day, I thought the seminar, co-sponsored by the Cameroon Community Media Network, was beneficial for the participants. Our discussions were lively, especially about language. One vexing problem is what to call those English-speaking rebels in the southwest and northwest who are fighting against the government. Are these Cameroonians rebels, freedom fighters, separatists, terrorists, or Ambozonians? (They call their self-declared independent state Ambozonia). Journalists said that there is no one term that works well, since some labels please the government and displease the separatists (terrorist), while others have an opposite effect (Ambozonians). My only advice was to try to select the term that is most neutral. I’m just not sure which term that is.

We also discussed election reporting, and had time to assess whether the October presidential election will be accompanied by violence. The journalists believe it will definitely be violent. As the seminar abruptly ended, we briefly discussed the planning that they’ll need to do to effectively cover the election using peace journalism principles. I hope they’ll follow through on this planning, and on their commitment to do their part to not fuel or exacerbate conflict in October.

 How do Cameroonian journalists assess the risks they face?

Before the authorities shut down our seminar on Friday, I had the 28 participating journalists fill out a survey wherein they indicated the threat level they experience as journalists in a conflict region. On a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the largest threat, I had them assess threats to journalists, and compare those to threats encountered by other peacebuilders like NGO and civil society workers and local leaders. Respondents were asked to assess possible threats from the government, separatists/rebels, and opposition political parties.

English speaking journalists from the northwest and southwest regions believed they are the group most threatened by the conflict, followed by local leaders and then NGO workers. The journalists believed their highest potential risks were being kidnapped by separatists (4.13); threats/intimidation from government authorities (4.0); being arrested (3.93); and threats/intimidation from separatists (3.93).

I’m guessing the averages for threats/intimidation and arrest of journalists by government authorities would have been quite different if we’d taken the survey after the police swooped in and shut down our seminar.

I’ll be comparing the results from journalists from the southwest and northwest, where there is almost daily violence, with those from journalists in non-conflict regions. Stay tuned.