By Stephen Ojang.
Both old and new members of the Cameroon Community Media Network CCMN of the North West chapter, all converged on the Presbyterian Church Center Mankon, to take stock and evaluate the way gone, as well as strategies to be put in place so as to bring back the much heralded Peace and back to normalcy needed in the North West Region.
The chapter meeting gave room for the presentation of a financial balance sheet, and an in depth evaluation of the project executed, as well as the impact of the project, on its members and beneficiary communities.
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| Rose Obah National Coordinator CCMN |
The Chapter President, who doubles as national coordinator, Mme Akah Rosaline Obah, expressed satisfaction to the achievements of the projects executed, and encouraged the members to be steadfast in their plans of building a peaceful society worthy of living.
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| PJ Gilbert Ndasi, on productions made |
Editor's note.
OJ SLIM MEDIA took a keen interest on the impact of the peace journalism and conflict transformation project on the journalists as well as their various communities, since the project is 90% Community and 10% Media.
The impact of peace journalism training and conflict transformation on journalists’ reportage of the ongoing anglophone crisis, has greatly changed. It raised questions about what should come next, which could mean a further investigation on the context of practice, or involve changes to the practice. The journey was long. The concept new. Challenges many. But the few journalists who embraced the concept have successfully distinguished themselves as they now stand tall, changing the narrative.
OUTCOME EVALUATION
To ascertain the impact the training had on participants, the OJ SLIM MEDIA posed salient questions in the evaluation meeting, that marked the end of phase two. The outcome of the training was also determined through a content analysis of the journalists’ post-training reportage.
A close follow up of works of CCMN members has proven that journalists under the CCMN network have implemented the learnings from the modules presented in the various trainings.
OJ SLIM MEDIA: In what ways has your practice changed as a result of the new concept of peace journalism?
NGOUKAPASIR MARTIAL: I want to first of all thank the PCC for thinking about journalists as community builders. The concept was new to me but I want to thank God for seeing me through. My life has changed, my media too, our editorial policy redefined and the community I serve has felt the impact of the project. Peace is what they preach since they are now aware of the necessity to build a peaceful society.
NDEFRU MELANIE: Peace Journalism has helped me to change the way I pitch my stories, I use the bottom top approach, stories that are of interest to the common man, stories which will affect the community directly. Peace Journalism has also affected my approach towards different situations or reactions/attitudes in the society. I have been able to choose my diction carefully in very difficult situations. I am thankful to the CCMN network, I can now produce programs, highlighting the voices of the people, allowing them tell their stories. Changing the narrative through Peace Journalism, has helped reduce conflicts in many communities.
AMAMBOH CARREY-PRIDE: It has thought me a more responsible way of reporting Truth without inciting violence or fear in my audience. PJ equally broadened my knowledge about conflict management, and reporting for peace in a crisis situation. or reporting their story in my reports.
As already stated, the major aim of this vox pop is to evaluate the route covered by CCMN, the peace journalism and conflict transformation project, as well as journalists, as they report social issues better by being more conflict-sensitive in their reportage.
The responses obtained were varied as the participants; however, some points were common to all the journalists. For instance, all close to 40 journalists affrmed that they had to shun ethnic, political and religious bias in their reportage. They undertook to put the peace of the nation ahead of ethnic, political and religious affiliations. This is pertinent when one considers that a large percentage of conficts in Cameroon have their roots in ethnicity and politics. The polarised nature of Cameroonian society is further heightened and energised by the tainted and skewed lens of ethnicity politics and religion, as portrayed by media owners and practitioners.
To succeed in their daunting task, the pioneer peace journalists, took the bull by the horns and scrupulously respected the following points;
1. Most of these journalists, in their reports, avoided the conflict-inducing attitude of portraying a conflict situation as a ‘battle’ between two parties, (Amba vs la république) or two politicians from opposing parties (CPDM vs SDF) whose sole aim is to win at all costs. In the case of the outbreak of the armed conflict in the two english speaking regions, and the covid-19 pandemic, CCMN journalists have remained: focus more on issues, and how these affect the general population.
2. Journalists asked questions that revealed areas of commonality between conflicting parties, instead of focusing on that which divides. This helps parties realise that they actually have compatible and shared goals.
3. The journalists also undertook to desist from reporting violent acts and describing "horrific" scenes. They said they changed their approach by showing people’s daily struggles, and their frustration with depravity, as a result of the armed conflict in the north west and south west regions.
4. One interesting area where journalists made changes, is the adjustments one noticed in their choice of language and tone. They undertook to avoid words such as ‘devastated’, ‘defenseless’, ‘pathetic’, ‘tragedy’, etc. Instead, they applied the skills gathered through the trainings to report on what has been done and could be done by the people, to rebuild what has been destroyed.
5. Journalists also instilled hope by avoiding the use of demonising labels such as ‘terrorist’, ‘extremist’, ‘fanatic’, ‘fundamentalist’, "separatists", "brainwashed" etc. Instead, they call people by the made use of a more peaceful approach and apt words.
PHOTO CREDIT: OJ SLIM MEDIA is thankful to GPmEDIA for the pictures used in this write-up, as well as to Ndefru Melanie and Amamboh Carrey-Pride in Bamenda.
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