South West journalists chronicle obstacles to effective work

Some journalists operating in the South West Region of Cameroon have expressed the challenges they face in the field.

These challenges, they posit, continue to act as impediments to the smooth functioning at their places of work.

They made the revelations on the occasion of the celebration of World Press Freedom day commemorated, May 3rd.

Amongst the many plights outlined was the Anglophone crisis and its impact of the journalistic profession.

According to some journalists, the practice of journalism was never perfect before the outbreak of the crisis, but has now become more complex.

“With the coming of the Anglophone crisis, the situation was made more complex,” said one of them, Issa.

Now, he added, “… one has to go through a host of protocols only to identify themselves before ending up being discarded by these same authorities who think that all the journalists are out there on mischievous missions”.

The Anglophone crisis has in recent years put journalists and uniform officials at logger heads which has resulted to a major challenge especially for journalists in the crisis-affected areas.

Boris Batata, journalist in the South West Region affirms: “Our constant threat as journalists … [is] we are caught up with the side of the uniform officials who, because you are journalist, feel insecure and as a result make you feel insecure.”

It should be noted that an uncountable number of Anglophone journalists have been detained with some killed, since the outbreak of the crisis in the year 2016.

By Amina Hilda