Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

A Tribute to Radio by Rhodes Journalism Review

The first issue of  RJRAlive, the new online publication of Rhodes Journalism Review, pays a glowing tribute to the Radio, that "resilient medium" which has stood the test of time and held its own against newer communication technologies. This maiden issue features "an array of stories from across the continent and from those for whom radio still continues to matter regardless of how free their politics or how sophisticated their technology."

Here are some choice excerpts:

Living in exile far away from home can take a toll on one’s well-being. Just ask the refugees of Darfur living in harsh and dire conditions in eastern Chad. But, if you at least have a radio that broadcasts news, music and weather reports, and debates current affairs, survival doesn’t seem so far off....

Digital didn't kill the Radio star; Shortwave and satellite help radio reign supreme. Radio threatens many of Africa’s big men. Thugs working for Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe have recently been confiscating and destroying receivers. Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki stopped issuing import licenses. Other iron-fisted rulers such as Swaziland’s King Mswati III and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir rarely hand out frequencies, thus reducing the range of independent radio....

The actions taken by these big men merely confirm radio’s supremacy in Africa. It may be old technology, but it is still relevant and appropriate. While not everybody owns a radio, most people have access to one.

Click here to read or download the first issue of RJRA (pdf).

Bonus: Click here for issue no. 33 of Rhodes Journalism Review (Sept. 2013).

Charles Nfongang Wins the 2012 Bibi Ngota Award for Journalism Against Impunity in Africa

“As a collective, [Nfongang’s articles] paint a compelling story of life in Cameroon's prison system.” Bibi Ngota Award jury.

Cameroonian journalist Charles Nfongang has won the first edition of the Bibi Ngota Award for Journalism against Impunity in Africa which comes with a $1000 cash prize. He was rewarded for a series of articles that he wrote on ‘Human rights in penitentiaries’, which were published in the Cameroonian newspaper, Ouest Fraternité. According to a statement from the jury, these articles stood out “because as a collective, they paint a compelling story of life in Cameroon's prison system.”

What if Mohamed Bouazizi had been Cameroonian? Thoughts on the Bibi Ngota Journalism Award Controversy

By Dibussi Tande

“What this award commemorates is not Bibi Ngota the person, with numerous professional and personal flaws, but the Bibi Ngota, who became, in spite of himself and at the cost of his life, the symbol of the arbitrary detention, harassment and physical abuse of journalists in Cameroon.”

On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor in the town of Sidi Bouzid set himself on fire to protest harassment by the police who had confiscated his vegetable cart. He died a few weeks later on January 4, 2011. Mohamed Bouazizi was neither a politician nor an activist; his was a personal protest against harassment with made it difficult for him to take care of his family. Bouazizi never set out to save Tunisia. In fact, all he dreamed of, according to a Time magazine profile, was to save enough money to be able to rent or buy a pickup truck.  As Larbi Sadiki writes:

The Bibi Ngota Award for Journalism Against Impunity in Africa Launched

A new $1000 USD annual African journalism award, named after the late Cameroonian journalist Bibi Ngota, has been launched. Read the award’s rationale along with submission guidelines and deadlines below.

Cameroonian Journalists Protesting the death of Bibi Ngota (c) AFP)

The Problem of Political Impunity in Africa
‘A deep, very serious problem is undermining Africa: political impunity’, writes Philippe Orou Sica. As a result, ‘Political life is sometimes asphyxiated and criminalized. As soon as a Head of State accedes to power, he feels that he is above all law. His political and ethnic groups are protected as a result. On the one hand, issues are suppressed, and on the other, one can kill, assassinate political opponents in total impunity, and wage war against the whole or a part of the population with a cynicism and peace of mind that is most peculiar. Nothing seems to dissuade this murderous form of ‘politics’.’

Major Publication on the Media in Africa Launched in Cape Town

Guy Berger (ed). MEDIA IN AFRICA: Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom. Media Institute of Southern Africa, 2011, 190 pages.

I am thrilled to be a contributor to one of the most comprehensive publications in the last decade on the state of the media in Africa, which was launched yesterday in Cape Town at the start of the Pan African Conference on Access to Information and the Highway Africa 15th conference.

Overview

 What has been the state-of-play for African media in  the 20 years since the historic Windhoek Declaration of 1991 which gave rise to World Press Freedom Day every 3 May? And what can be expected over the next decade? More than 70 commentators illuminate the trajectory in a range of contributions in this book - covering the issues of media freedom, pluralism, independence and access to information.

Introducing "Cameroon on Twitter Daily" - An Online Newspaper

Cameroon on Twitter Daily is a collection of links to all Cameroon-related stories shared on Twitter which are then published daily in an easy to read newspaper-style format. Click here to read or subscribe to the daily newspaper.

Focus on Africa Magazine (With Special Report on Cameroon) Now On Sale

The January-March 2011 issue of the BBC's Focus on Africa Magazine, which includes my article on how the government of Cameroon is dealing with online dissent, is now on sale worldwide.

 
This issue has a special report on Cameroon, which according to the magazine's Twitter page, covers issues such as the country's the current leadership, the fight against corruption, Pentecostal churches and how they are affected by Biya's leadership, etc.

Get your copy now!

Article in Next Issue of Focus on Africa Magazine

The BBC's Focus on Africa Magazine tweets about my article in its December print edition.

 

Africa Media Leadership Conference (AMLC) To Hold in Tanzania

Africa summit to examine sustainable digital media business models.

JOHANNESBURG / GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa -- CEOs and top editors from South, West, North and East Africa converge on Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam for three days in September to attend Africa’s annual media leadership summit which this year focuses on finding “Sustainable Media Business Models in the Digital Age”.

The Africa Media Leadership Conference (AMLC), which takes place on 26-29 September, is hosted annually by Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership (SPI) and Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).

As in all previous AMLC summits, this year’s conference will be a key learning and reflective platform where Africa’s top media leaders will discuss strategic, operational and other challenges to keep their media credible, relevant and competitive in a fast-changing and  digitalising media landscape. 

Past AMLC summits have debated topics such as “Managing Media in a Recession” (Mauritius, 2002); “The Challenges of Media Convergence” (Cape Town, South Africa, 2003); “Policies and Strategies for Media Viability” (Maputo, Mozambique, 2005); “South Meets East: Strategic Challenges for African Media” (Nairobi, Kenya, 2006); “Revenue Generation for Robust African Media” (Cape Town, South Africa, 2007); “Doing Digital Media in Africa: Prospects, Promises and Problems” (Kampala, Uganda, 2008); and “Learning from the Future: Africa’s Media Map in 2029” (Accra, Ghana, 2009) .

The AMLC is the only pan-African gathering of CEOs and leading editors from across Africa, having been launched by KAS and the SPI nearly 10 years ago.

Rhodes Journalism Review: What is Missing from Journalism Education?

In the current issue of the Rhodes Journalism Review, 15 journalists, editors & new media specialists from around the world pinpoint what’s missing from journalism education. Includes a contribution from me.

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Click here to read or download article.

World Press Freedom Day 2010

World Press Freedom Day is celebrated every year on 3 May worldwide. It is an opportunity to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. In memory of Bibi Ngota

Designed by the World Association of Newspapers

Palapala Magazine Celebrates First Anniversary with New Issue

By Kangsen Feka Wakai (Founding Editor)

This issue of Palapala magazine marks our first anniversary in existence.

Tolu Ogunlesi, one of our most diligent supporters and a recent nominee of the CNN multichoice African journalist of the year award, attends a Marechera conference in Oxford, and talks to those who knew and were impacted by the writer.

Dibussi Tande, a Palapala magazine editorial team member, reminds us that birds can soar with clipped wings in his response to Patrice Nganang’s essay on Anglophone Cameroon literature published on his blog. The debate continues…

In this issue, we also pay tribute to Bate Besong, the Obasinjom Warrior.

Summit Magazine Exclusive: Prof Anomah Ngu on the Vanhivax AIDS Vaccine

Issue #08 of Summit Magazine is now available in newsstands in Cameroon. This issue includes an exclusive interview with Prof. Anomah Ngu, the one-time Professor of Surgery at the School of Medicine in Ibadan, winner of the prestigious Lasker Award for his groundbreaking research on cancer, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Yaounde, and former Cameroonian Minister of Public Health, who is now under a cloud of controversy, and even ridicule, over his claims that he has found a vaccine for AIDS.  In what is his most extensive interview ever, Prof. Ngu outlines the scientific basis for his Vanhivax vaccine which he claims is both preventive and curative, takes on his critics who now refer to the once venerated medical doctor as a charlatan, and also walks down memory lane, revisiting his role in the (re)unification of the two Cameroons, his University of Ibadan days, his relationships with presidents Ahidjo and Biya, among other issues.

Summit Magazine - A Conversation with Chinua Achebe

For its fifth issue, Summit Magazine joins the worldwide celebration of the 50th anniversary of Things Fall Apart with an interview with novelist Chinua Achebe.
 

In the interview, Chinua Achebe talks, among other things, about his writing, the accident which left him paralyzed, the state of Nigeria today emerging Nigerian writers, the way out for Cameroon literature in English hemmed in by the more vibrant literatures of Francophone Cameroun to the East and Nigeria to the West, etc.

Success Story Magazine No. 09 - Let There Be Food!

Success Story Magazine Editorial

Never in the History of Mankind has so Much been said by so Many about Food! The scarcity of Food has brought fear in decision making circles around the world as price hikes hit unprecedented levels. What exactly is happening? How did we get there? Are we just victims of Malthusian prophecies? What are the short and medium term, small and large scale solutions to the food shortages affecting Cameroon and other countries? Have we snubbed our local staples for imported food thereby creating less incentives for local farmers to sustain production? So many questions awaiting answers...

In this Issue, our Editors, Correspondents and Contributors have touched the heart of the matter. Before attempting an analysis of the origins of the crisis, we observe the reaction of World Leaders and Organisations while they lay down action plans to tackle this crisis.

New Issue of Success Story E-Magazine

From the Editor-in-Chief

In this Issue, we showcase more talented Cameroonians whose dynamism, creativity and courage are worth admiring. We start from Cameroon, with NDABODO TOWO who is determined to introduce innovations in the advertising landscape in Cameroon. His efforts could be seen on taxicab roofs around the city of Yaounde.

We fly to the States to read the success story of a very Cameroonian-born Scholar, Dr. JEM SPECTAR who has been inaugurated as the President of a major University in the USA. This is a true story! No Cameroonian had gone that far.

Coming back to Cameroon, we stop at the Ministry of Communication to praise the efforts of Dr. ALOBWEDE ESAMBE CHARLES, a hardworking Cameroonian who is putting his talent at the service of the State.

2007: A Year of Declining Press Freedom in Africa

Culled from Press Freedom in 2007: A Year of Global Decline (Freedom House)

Press freedom declined on a global scale in 2007, with particularly worrisome trends evident in the former Soviet Union, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. This marked the sixth straight year of overall deterioration. Improvements in a small number of countries were overshadowed by a continued, relentless assault on independent news media by a wide range of actors, in both authoritarian states and countries with relatively open media environments…

Sub-Saharan Africa: Overall, 7 countries (15 percent) were rated Free, 18 (37 percent) were rated Partly Free, and 23 (48 percent) remained Not Free in sub-Saharan Africa. The average regionwide level of press freedom declined during the year, as did the average score in the legal and political categories.

Summit Magazine: Still Going Strong

The fourth issue of Summit Magazine, which recently won the award for the best English language magazine in Cameroon, is now available in news stands in Cameroon and to readers in the United States.

Click here to view, print or download sample pages from this issue in PDF format

The magazine is distributed in the United States by Shrine of Africa. Click here for details.

Success Story Magazine - A New Addition to the Cameroonian Media Scene

After years of being inundated with political magazines and newspapers, the Cameroonian media scene has recently witnessed the emergence of "image magazines" that focus primarily on people and places.

The most recent addition to this increasingly popular journalistic genre is Success Story magazine; a monthly publication which has the distinction of being Cameroon's first exclusively online magazine. According to its publishers, Success Story is about “celebrating [the] success [of] talented Cameroonians at home and abroad".

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Muzzling the Press in Cameroon

By Benn Bongang (Originally published by the Association of International Studies)

"Biya’s rhetoric on democratization in Cameroon was nothing more that another approach to a long tradition of silencing the media in Cameroon to hold on to political power"

In December 1990, Celestin Monga and Pius Njawe scorned Cameroon President Paul Biya’s ‘paternalistic and condescending’ claims that he brought democracy to Cameroon. Theirs was a frontal attack on the Head of State, fueled by frustration by decades of the government’s firm hand against the press. Until then, journalists who dared to criticize government wrote in disguised prose that often veiled their intentions.