DEVELOPMENT JOURNALISM: PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE IN CAMEROON (MASS COMMUNICATION, AFRICA)

Hinging on what is believed to be the mass media's potential for promoting development, the concept of development journalism purports to use the news media as a vehicle for accelerating the process of national development. This study measures news media performance against their stated roles as the basis for evaluating the practice of development journalism in Cameroon.; Three main areas of analysis were used: a descriptive analysis of the mass communication system, content analysis of major newspapers in the country and the national radio station which produced a set of performance indexes for Priority Development Journalism Content Areas, and a survey of Cameroonian journalists.; Cameroon's mass communication system was found to be controlled, representing a Statism media philosophy, characterized by secrecy, censorship, and the harassment of journalists. Content analysis showed a close relationship between the roles of the media and mass media content. Ownership of the media and language of publication made no difference in news media performance relative to government policy.; However, the relationship revealed a disproportionate emphasis on political and administrative content in the newspapers, and entertainment in the radio. By contrast, the media contained low proportions of content related to economic growth, indicating the neglect of a major content area in development journalism.; Journalists disagreed with policymakers on the philosophy of mass communication. The attitude of journalists represented a Socially Responsible media philosophy which recognizes the values of both press freedom and professional self-regulation, and the dissemination of development-related information as the most important task of the news media.; The study suggests mutual distrust between policymakers and journalists about the role of the news media in Cameroon. But, in view of the assymetrical relationship that exist between the government and the news media, the former sets the media agenda. Thus, media content does not reflect the philosophy of journalists but rather that of policymakers.; The author concludes that development journalism is not vigorously practiced in Cameroon as neither journalists nor policymakers showed any inclination to utilize the media in a systematic fashion to stimulate socio-economic development.