Ebolowa: English language newspaper publishers begin sharpening managerial skills today.

This is in a two-day workshop taking place in Ebolowa, South Region, organised by the Cameroon English Language Newspaper Publishers’ Association, CENPA.

The opening of the workshop will be presided at by the Minister of Communication, Emmanuel Rene Sadi.

The President of CENPA, Kristian Ngah Christian, who doubles as the Publisher of The Guardian Post, in a statement, said the workshop has as goal to help English language print media organs, already badly hit by the armed conflict in the North West and the South West Regions, and other national and international economic downturns, to seek alternative means of sustaining their publications.

English language newspaper Publishers say they will use the two-day workshop to exchange experiences on media management and sustainability. 

The workshop is holding under the theme: Rescuing the dying Anglophone print media. According to CENPA president, “is aimed at imparting in English language newspaper publishers knowledge and skills to surmount the hurdles being faced by the Anglophone print media, which is currently limping because of multiple crises”. 

He said most English language newspaper Publishers, already seriously affected by the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions, can barely afford publication cost. 

“The disturbing situation of English language newspapers has further been compounded by the economic downturn, caused by the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions, COVID-19, high cost of printing materials, lack of sponsors and the advent of the social media, which has seriously affected sales of printed newspaper copies,” Ngah disclosed.

“It is given the gloomy and uncertain future staring at English language print media organs that CENPA is organising the two-day workshop to rescue them from imminent collapse,” he added.

Some of the modules to feature in the workshop include: ‘Sourcing for finances/sponsorship, advertising, improving on content and above all going digital to withstand the challenges posed by the social media and citizen journalism’.

The publishers will also be drilled on ‘leadership in the newsroom, digital and physical safety for newspaper publishers, adaptation and digital transformation by newspaper publishers and best practices in newspaper management and sustainability’.   

It should be recalled that in the recent past, CENPA joined government in its fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic by donating anti-COVID-19 kits to media houses in the country. The association also assisted government’s efforts in the back-to-school drive in the North West and South West Regions, by donating school kits to pupils and students in all the 13 Divisions of the crisis-hit North West and South West Regions.

Still in line with helping government to resolve the crisis in the two English-speaking Regions, CENPA, in 2019, organised a seminar on crisis reporting and peace-building. The seminar, which took place in Yaounde, brought together over 100 media practitioners from the North West, South West, West, Centre and Littoral Regions.