Media Environment

Cultural Rifts Assesment

Media Comparisons

World Communication

Forging Ahead

General Statistics

Comparison Statistics

Timeline of Events

The Linguistic Problem

When Cameroon became independent in 1960 it was struggling to determine how to self-govern for the first time. Due to the colonial rule and the divisions between north and south Cameroon there was emphasis on national unity and development. Cameroon is unique in that it is incredibly ethnically diverse with at least two hundred tribes who speak more than eighty African languages. (Tahsoh 135) In order for unity within Cameroon to be achieved it was necessary to cultivate a sound media environment. Interestingly with the attainment of independence there appeared to be development of vernacular broadcasting. Since approximately 247 indigenous languages exist in Cameroon vernacular broadcasting has been accepted as a direct translation of the english or French broadcast. “Indigenous language broadcasters over the state-owned radio stations have limited latitude and all announcements, news or information that need to be read are handing hierarchically for approval prior to broadcast.” (Muluh 221) For leaders in Cameroon during the 1960’s the best way to do deal with consolidating the press in the post-colonial time was to have the mass media owned and/or controlled by the government. The way that mass communication was organized in Cameroon at its independence with a mixed system of public and private ownership of print media and sole government ownership of broadcast media reflects the country’s colonial history.

Linguistic Cartography

Indigenous language broadcasting in Cameroon has not been a heavily studied topic because academics refer to the country as having “the language problem.” (Muluh 215) Indigenous language broadcasting has been given particularly less attention in Cameroon as compared to other countries in Africa because of its many languages. There are four major language families in Africa and three of those exist in Cameroon. (Muluh) These families are known as the Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Niger-Kordofanian. The indigenous languages within these families most widely used are Fulfulde, Ewondo, Bassa, Duala, Hausa, Wandala, Kanun, Arab Shuwa and Cameroon Pidgin English. The most represented language family in Cameroon is the Niger-Kordofanian. There are three language zones in Cameroon, the Fulfulde lingua franca in the North, the pidgin English lingua franca in the West and the French lingua franca zone in the rest of the country. (Muluh) At the time of independence and reunification, English and French became the two official Cameroonian languages.

After the German colonists were ousted there was this process of indigenous language erosion because of colonial emphasis on French. In 1917, the French colonial administration instituted a mandate for schools that required the use of French as a language of instruction. Schools that taught using indigenous languages were forced to be shit down. “In 1920 47 schools opened by King Nijoya in the Bamum region were all closed down.” (216) 1800 schools run by the American Presbyterian missionaries which taught in Bulu were also shut down in 1922. Interestingly while the mass communication was monopolized by the colonial authorities, the indigenous languages continued to dominate popular communication between people on a regular basis. Therefore within families, at the market, or church indigenous languages were used predominately.

When Cameroon gained independence French was adopted as the official language in French speaking Cameroon and English the official language in the English speaking areas. Once these territories were reunited, the country gained bilingual status and it opted for a “neutral foreign language option as official language,” (Muluh 217) in order to push aside the issue of indigenous languages and avoid conflict. “Globally speaking, the linguistic scenario in Cameroon is characterized by dense multilingualism, the official dominance of ex-colonial languages; the official neglect of indigenous languages; the unsevered colonial umbilical cord; and socio-politically interwoven language related problems.” (Muluh 217) The language cartography in Cameroon has not made vernacular broadcasting prominent. However, indigenous language media does have a place in broadcasting in Cameroon which is evidenced by the state-owned radio station of the Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation (CRTV). In other African countries such as Namibia vernacular is used on TV but in Cameroon it is limited to the radio. In large part this is because radio is getting better in Cameroon and becoming a tool for educating the public. “Given the oral tradition, radio is a medium through which all Cameroonians can be reached easily.” (Muluh 218) Radio is picking up as traditional media systems are phasing out but the old and new media are coexisting in a way that allows the use of indigenous languages within broadcast media. It is in this environment that indigenous language broadcasting came to exist in Cameroon through the mixture of old culture vernacular and new communication media through radio. Vernacular broadcasting helps to deal with the problem of illiteracy in Cameroon. The problem with indigenous language media in Cameroon is the vast array of ethnic tribes and languages that exist there. It has been challenging to make sure there is linguistic balance through the media that represents and provides for all of the languages in the country.

In 2001 there was only one government controlled TV broadcast station CRTV which started in 1984 (CIA World Fact Book) but now there is Satellite TV; France 2, and TF1. Television in Cameroon was fully developed and delivered to Cameroonian homes three days a week in December 1985. Cameroonians were exposed to some special television broadcasts before this one of which was an experiment that broadcasted live the proceedings of the ruling part’s congress in Bamenda. The second time was in August 1985 when Pope John Paul II visited Cameroon. Government plans to introduce television became a reality in 1975 when a contract was awarded to European industries to study the possibility of installing television that could benefit both rural and urban areas of Cameroon. CRTV today provides news to Cameroonians but is not the most dominant technology because radio tends to reflect the oral traditions that are part of the nation’s history and culture. It is not a commercial station and its programs often reflect its mission but it may have some biases given that it is government-run. The media environment in Cameroon is interesting because there is no defined philosophy surrounding the press. “Operation and control of the press are not the result of definite philosophic guidelines or enunciated policies, but a reaction to the daily problems of fear, stability, national development and survival.” (Tahhoh 141) Due to this unclear and often instable media environment when decisions need to be made they are often adopted at different times for specific aspects of mass communication which reflect the government philosophy at the time not an overall national media policy. It is a relatively new country in terms of its freedom from colonial imperialism (1960) and has been struggling to adapt to modern mass communication while holding on to historic oral traditions that reflect the country’s unique ethnic and linguistic make-up. (Tahsoh 141)

The first transmitter was installed in Douala in 1941 by the French colonial administration to help the military effort in the territory during World War II. A second transmitter was installed in Yaounde in 1955. The english part of Cameroon had no broadcasting before independence but it had a studio in Buea that was affiliated with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. Eventually in 1967 it began broadcasting on its own as a station of Radio Cameroon. On December 17, 1987 a law was created that allowed the development of Cameroon Radio Television Corporation (CRTV) which merged from Cameroon Television (CTV) and the Radio Diffusion du Cameroun (RDC). Today, CRTV has about 15 radio station, 10 of which are provincial stations and four are commercial FM stations, and one is a national station. The broadcasting in Cameroon was carried out in English, Duala and Mungaka. The vernacular broadcasters were part time announcers without professinal journalism training who translated the day’s news from English to Duala and Mungaka. Since its inception vernacular broadcasting has not changed much except that the number of languages and announcers have increased but the working conditions and material within their programs have not changed. To give an example, CRTV Buea has 149 hours of broadcasting a week and 10 of those hours are allotted to vernacular broadcasting which is about 6.71%. There are 36 tribes in this southwestern province and six main languages are represented through the broadcast media. These languages are Bakweri, Bakosski, Oroko, Ejagham/Kenyang, Bangwa, and Bafaw which represent Fako, Kupe Muanenguba, Ndian, Manyu, Lebialem and Meme division.

Indigenous broadcasting within the private radio has not existed forever, in fact until the law of April 2000 which freed the broadcast media, no private radio existed. The time allocated on each radio station for indigenous language announcement varies. For example, the north provincial radio station in Maroua comes first with 27.36% of broadcast time given to indigenous lanauage and the northwest provincial station in Bamenda comes in last with 4.17% of broadcast time for the vernacular. Each provincial radio station determines its own language policy in the area of radio broadcast. This preference of media in French or English illustrates that an important part of the socio-economic population is marginalized.

The rural communities in Cameroon benefit the most from the radio because it offers an opportunity for people to stay in tune with the political dialogue through the indigenous media broadcasts. Radio is a mechanism for communication that is most fitted to support and promote rural development because of its low cost and high level of accessibility. “The underlying assumption here is that, this form of information dissemination is very effective since local language is used to transmit messages.” (Muluh 221) Cameroon has five rural radio stations that broadcast mostly in the vernacular and use local slang, proverbs ad indigenous language. Also indigenes tend to be the announcers that broadcast the information and they are known by the viewers therefore give a level of personal credibility.