Might peace journalism put reporters at greater risk?

(CAMEROON)—Threats against journalists seem to lurk everywhere in Cameroon. Many of the journalists we talked to in Bafoussam and Bonaberi said that one of the best ways to mitigate those risks is to practice responsible peace journalism.

 

Today, their colleagues at a four day peace journalism workshop disagreed. They say practicing peace journalism will actually put them at greater risk of threats, intimidation, incarceration, or kidnapping. Why? One journalist said that reporting about humanitarian issues, as peace journalism asks, will anger officials who don’t want to such issues. Another journalist said the word peace itself may incite anger by either side of the conflict—from separatists who think peace means that you are opposed to their goal, and from authorities who believe peace means acceding to the separatist’s demands.

Also today, the journalists from throughout Cameroon engaged in some preliminary planning for upcoming, contentious events in Cameroon like the opening of school, the separatist’s independence day on Oct. 1, and the presidential election on Oct. 7. 

This four day workshop is sponsored by the Center for Global Peace Journalism at Park University, the Cameroon Community Media Network, and the Fredrich Ebert Foundation.

As violence flairs, safety becomes paramount

(CAMEROON)—As we reached the midway mark of our second peace journalism seminar here, I let out a silent cheer commemorating the fact that we are apparently being left alone by authorities. (Our first seminar in Bonaberi was shut down by police after 3 hours. See posts below for details).

This news is especially good because the seminar so far, featuring journalists primarily from the northwest region, has been nothing short of excellent. The 45 attendees have discussed topics ranging from peaceful election reporting to reporting internally displaced persons—a topic that might become of paramount importance if the violence continues to escalate in the northwest and southwest Anglophone regions of the country.
  

Perhaps the most interesting discussion swirled around the deteriorating security situation in the Anglophone regions, and how this imperils journalists. The journalists shared some of their ideas on how they can stay safe while violence flairs around them. These tips include getting proper journalist’s credentials; being non-partisan; avoiding hotspots where violence may flair up; respecting the rules of polling places; using peace journalism principles; practicing solid fundamental journalism in general; and, according to at least one participant, praying regularly.

The event is co sponsored by the Cameroon Community Media Network.

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.

Reflections on getting shut down by the police

(No longer in BONABERI, CAMEROON)—A day after our run in with the local gendarmerie (see previous post below detailing how police shut down our peace journalism seminar), I’m still processing what happened, and how. Here are some random observations:

--The journalists attending the workshop said they would have all been arrested on Friday had two white foreigners, myself and my colleague Alexander, not been present. The journalists said if they’d been arrested Friday, they’d have to spend the entire weekend in jail before their case was heard on Monday. 

--What would I have done if the police had tried to arrest the journalists? I lay awake last night thinking about this. I think it would be my duty to stand with my seminar participants, and insist that they arrest me, too. I’d hope the stink caused by arresting me might prevent them from taking the journalists into custody.

--Were we targeted because we were English speakers meeting in a French region? In my previous blog, my colleagues said this was the case. However, at least one Facebook commenter said that we may have been treated even worse in the English speaking regions because our activities might’ve been seen as subversive. 

--The raid was led by Bonaberi’s chief of police who met with my colleague Alexander. The chief was reportedly very professional and calm. The officers accompanying him were also non-aggressive. Despite their professionalism, their presence was intimidating.

--After the raid, probably 10 participants attending my workshop came up to me and said, “Now you know what it is like to be a journalist in Cameroon.”

--I got a lesson in turning the other cheek. Before they dispersed us, the authorities let us eat lunch. At lunch, a participant noticed the cops sitting outside, and commented that they need to eat, too. He went outside and invited the policemen to join us for lunch. At the time, I thought to myself that I’d rather feed the leftover food to the dogs rather than to the police. Today, I think the journalists did the right thing. I’m wondering now if this Cameroonian generosity of spirit, this innate magnanimity, can be harnessed to avert what many believe is an inevitable civil war.

In Cameroon, police raid, shut down peace journalism seminar
(BONABERI, CAMEROON)—As we wrapped up the morning segment of today’s peace journalism seminar, an ominous warning came my way: the police were on their way. A few moments later, I looked outside and there they were, four uniformed police/gendarmes looking menacing and wearing, appropriately, brown shirts.

I wondered if my colleagues and I, not to mention the 28 journalists, would be arrested. However, I wasn’t frightened, only furious.

It seems they came to order us to stop the seminar immediately, which we had done anyway for our lunch break. They said that the organization sponsoring our seminar hadn’t filled out the requisite permission form in a timely fashion. In our defense, my colleagues found out about the permission form requirement yesterday, which is when they filed all of the correct paperwork at the local government officials’ offices. Our paperwork was accepted without comment or complaint.

According to journalists, the paperwork deadline was just an excuse to shut us down. One journalist I spoke to was convinced that local French-speaking authorities in Bonaberi singled us out (“discriminated against us”) because the participants were from English speaking regions, and that our topic, peace journalism, was too sensitive. I discussed this theory with six other journalists, all of whom agreed that we were targeted because of our language and subject matter. One other reporter said he wasn’t all surprised by the officials’ heavy-handed actions.

In enforcing the shut-down order, no one was arrested, and no one physically accosted. The cops let us eat lunch, then just waited around until the participants left the hotel where we were holding the seminar. 

The irony is that this is just the kind of thing we discussed during the morning session. I had the 28 participating journalists fill out a survey wherein they indicated the threat level they experience as journalists in a conflict region. One of the threats I asked them to assess (on a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the largest threat) was intimidation by government officials. After we were forced to stop, I  joked to the participants that I should have added a number 6 to the scale, representing “it’s happening right now!”

As bad as things seem in the U.S. now, or in Europe where the right wing is on the march, events like today’s underscore the preciousness of our civil liberties, including the right to peaceably assemble. It’s a right I know my Cameroonian colleagues would cherish if they can ever attain it.