Media Environment

Cultural Rifts Assesment

Media Comparisons

World Communication

Forging Ahead

General Statistics

Comparison Statistics

Timeline of Events

Cameroon, Angola & Madagascar

Angola and Madagascar are two similarly populated African countries that serve as a good comparison to Cameroon because while they have a relatively sound broadcast radio presence in their culture they have less access to dominant media technologies such as telephones, cell phones, personal computers, internet users and broadband subscribers. For example in Madagascar there are 66,000 telephones compared to 98,000 in Angola and 130,000 in Cameroon. There are 91,000 personal computers in Madagascar and 27,000 in Angola, while Cameroon has 160,000. The area of communication that again doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the comparative analysis is the amount of cell phone users that seem to surpass all other dominant media technologies. Madagascar only has 510,000 cellular phones but Angola has 2,264,000 compared to only 98,000 landline telephones.

Censorship in Madagascar is prevalent and the government tends to pressure the media to not cover politically sensitive material or anything that might challenge government policies and in this way is very similar to Cameroon. Interestingly the electronic media in Madagascar is sophisticated compared to the level of internet access. Every daily newspaper is also available online which is ironic because Cameroon has a higher level of internet access but has been met with fierce challenges in terms of adapting to moving print media onto the web. In Angola there is constitutional protection that mandates freedom of the press but it is still restricted by government persuasion. Generally speaking the government is more tolerant of criticism from the media than Cameroon or Madagascar however officials tend to persuade independent media to cover the government in a positive light. There have been circumstances of harassment of journalists who try to address politically sensitive issues that could threaten the credibility of the government. The state dominates print and broadcast media but private outlets occasionally try to criticize the government. The most widely read and viewed media in Angola are run by the government and allow minimal critical analysis of government decisions.