Abah Isidore defends PhD thesis on print media political economy.

The work is titled: “The Political Economy of the print media: Its State, challenges and prospects for journalist practice in Cameroon”.

The defense was a historic first for the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, JMC, of the University of Buea, UB, to be done online.

Abah presented his work and responded to questions from a panel of renowned academics who followed his assertions and analysis for hours. 

The jury comprised; Prof Boyomo Assala Charles of the University of Yaounde II as chairperson; Prof Thomas Atenga of the University of Douala as rapporteur I; Prof Julius Che Tita of UB as Raporteur II; Prof Kinglsey Ngange of UB as Supervisor; Prof Nengieh Lizzie Wantchami of UB, Co-supervisor and Prof Nkongho Ta-Mbi of UB as member.

Supervisor praises humility, perseverance 

Commenting at the end of the thesis defense, the candidate’s supervisor, Prof Ngange, lauded the commitment of Prof Boyomo to see that standards are upheld. 

Prof Ngange insisted that at UB, officials ensure that graduates are worthy in character first before learning. 

“The whole idea of education is for the transformation of the human character. That was the founding vision of one of the first universities which is Harvard and it has always been so,” Prof Ngange who is also Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Research, Cooperation and Relations with the Business World, remarked before praising the persistence and resilience of Abah.

“If patience had a name, that name would be Abah Isidore. If perseverance had a name, if persistence without being a nuisance had a name, that name would be Abah Isidore. He has gone through the mill and his character has been tested and proven that he is worth obtaining a PhD,” the Supervisor noted.

Prof Ngange also disclosed that the candidate spent six months waiting to defend his work, but “bottlenecks” frustrated him” and he had to return abroad. Noting that, “every disappointment is a blessing” the DVC said “that is why we are having the first online PhD defense in the department of journalism”.

The supervisor said it is a feat that also tested UB’s digital centre, noting that, “we have realised that government was wise to create the centre to solve this kinds of problems”. 

Prof Ngange praised the State for having invested to digital centres to handle such situations.

Context of research 

Situating his work, Abah stated that his ten years working at Buea-based biweekly newspaper, The Post, rising through the ranks from reporter to Copy Editor, brought him face-to-face with the dynamics of the print media industry.

He added that situations such as COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 compounded the struggle of the media organ that was already bleeding from the armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions. The situation, he noted, affected the paper’s print run.

Based on such experiences, Abah said he undertook to understand the relationship between the print media and the government and how it “affects the production, distribution and consumption of communication resources; that is the media”.

Abah said he also discovered that as easy as it is to create a newspaper in Cameroon, so it is for them to cease to exist.

He cited the growing phenomena of newspapers going digital and reducing print runs. “So, I wanted to investigate this intricate relationship between the print media and the government…”.

Key research questions

Abah added that he set out to answer four research questions viz; How does the state of the political economy of the print media affect journalism practice in Cameroon? The challenges of faced by the print media and how it affects journalism practice; the strategies publishers are adopting to keep newspapers afloat despite the challenges and prospects of print media in enhancing journalism practice.

Research discoveries 

The researcher said he found out that the relationship between the government and print media is felt through; media ownership, media funding and media regulation. 

Abah stated that government’s relationship based on funding and regulation with publicly owned newspapers is different from how it works with the privately owned newspapers.

“The government finances the public media through taxpayers’ money and at the same time, adverts from parastatals, ministries and government services and they still get adverts from multinationals and other businesses,” Abah opined, quipping that in the private sector, media aid is meagre while most adverts and insertions are based on networks and friendships.

“The private media is also competing with the public media for adverts from parastatals. This really makes it very difficult for it to succeed.  The way the government regulates the media, is not across the board,” he intimated.

He detailed that in the private media, self-censorship holds sway while the State has made the public media part of the civil service with staff expected to toe certain lines.

In the public media, the candidate said findings show those who try to assert themselves are punished in different ways including punitive transfers and lack of career growth. 

“When such happens within the public media, the journalist does not see a career growth path and doesn’t see how they could change and so they will just decide to toe the line,” he stated. 

At the level of the private media, he said taxes are imposed by government while also leveraging media aid to starve media organs that are critical.  Such media organs, Abah said, are kept at bay for sometimes two years before befitting from aid.

“In the course of waiting, these journalists, will toe the line such that when media aid is available, they can benefit,” the candidate noted, adding that there is also “institutional regulation”. 

Here, he pointed to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and the National Communication Council, NCC, with the Ministry of Communication sometimes also regulating.

“The media is not regulated across the board as it is supposed to be,” said, insisting that journalist are supposed to work without distinction of private and public press to ensure uniformity.

Oftentimes, he said the public media does praise singing, propaganda and ego massaging, partisan reporting and personality cult.

These, he said, “are the frames that are recurrent because journalist in this medium want to benefit either from promotion to higher heights or occupying certain positions...”. 

At the level of the private media, Abah said his findings shows traces of bias reporting, critical reporting, public service role and “trying to act as watch dog of society because they are free and independent to do this”.

Political influence, interests, neglects 

The researcher also said his work established that government wants “to influence most newspapers in Cameroon”. Such, he said, comes in various ways “because it operates with the media organs based on its interests”.

Findings, he said, also show that government is deliberately neglecting the private print media in the country. 

“Government can only take interest in a newspaper when it is benefitting from it, when it is propagating its agenda and policies,” Abah noted.

He also said most newspapers work in the interest of the governance class, based on findings. Tackling about what he terms “love hate ambivalence”, Abah said findings equally indicate that the government supports media organs that sings its praises and punishes those that are critical.

Abah stated that there is still some level of editorial rigidness with some newspapers rejecting adverts that don’t meet certain ethical demands.

Recommendations

He recommended that newspapers publishers need to pool resources. Most of those running newspapers, Abah said, lack what it takes to withstand the competition in the market. 

“The need to come under an umbrella first, to determine how to circulate their newspapers because they are still making use of the rudimentary methods of circulation”.

Abah also encouraged newspaper publishers to set up a printing press to be able to print at subsidized rates. He drummed the need for publishers to embrace the social media. 

To the state, the candidate called for a review of the law governing the setting up of newspapers. He said most are set up without due diligence. He also recommended the decriminalization of some media offenses. 

The candidate also called for a unique regulatory frame work for the media across the board irrespective of ownership.

Abah in brief

Abah is a product of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, JMC, of UB. He also holds a Master’s degree in the same specialty from the same university.

Dr Abah worked for a decade as a journalist at The Post mostly serving as Desk Editor. Beyond having worked for several international media organs and offering consultancy services for many organisations, he is also a former staff of the Divine Mercy Radio Television, DMRTV, of the Catholic Diocese of Buea. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3786 of Monday May 11, 2026