Dr. Shey Peter Mabu, pioneer Editor-in-Chief of the defunct Cameroon Tribune English language edition and Deputy General Manager of SOPECAM.

How did Cameroon Tribune come about?

Cameroon Tribune started soon after a few of us left the Yaounde International School of Journalism. Cameroon did not yet have any daily and so we faced the challenge of starting a national paper. We were the first batch of the School of Journalism. All of us were absorbed by the then Ministry of Information and Culture.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Vroumsia Tchinaye, (may his soul rest in peace), called us and said government was looking forward to starting a newspaper. We started with trial issues; writing stories and producing papers. At the time, AGRACAM was just a printer that was serving our enterprise, Société Camerounaise des Publications, that is, the Cameroon Publishing Company, which started producing Cameroon Tribune.

We were working on a daily basis. While the French version of the paper was called La Tribune Camerounaise, the English version was called Cameroon Tribune. We kept producing, but not selling. After sometime, it became necessary to launch the paper. On July 1, 1974, Cameroon Tribune was officially launched with one name - Cameroon Tribune - adopted for both versions.

We had some French citizens assisting Mr. Fame Ndongo as the coordinator. The English version started with a few journalists who had left the School of Journalism. These included Jenkins Mote, myself, Solomon Tarkang and William Esap’ebong. Later on, we had Dinga Ambe, Martin Che and others who also joined.

What technical difficulties did you face at the time?

There were quite a number of difficulties because we did not have computers. Today’s technological advances were not yet there, so we depended on the Offset system. We had to do proof-casting by counting the signs, multiplying and dividing to see how long it will take before going on to lay the pages.

To scale the pictures, we had to use the typometer because there were no computers. The typing system was cumbersome. If you had any errors, you had to go back and cut the paper, and it was not all that easy. But then, the newspaper was launched with the two versions. The English version was published as a weekly and the French version a daily. We started with 16 pages, moved to 24 and stayed there for quite a while before moving to 32 pages.

What other stages were involved in the evolution of Cameroon Tribune?

The English version started as a weekly, then moved to a bi-weekly and then a tri-weekly before it became a bilingual daily. Cameroon Tribune became a bilingual daily when I took time off to return to school. During that time, Cameroon Tribune became a bilingual daily.

People had been used to reading the daily in French and then having the tri-weekly in English. With the bilingual edition, some people were always complaining why they could not have the English version separately on a daily basis. However, we noticed that with the bilingual daily, readers were upgrading their bilingualism.

What professional challenges were involved in the changes?

At that time, we had just left the Yaounde International School of Journalism. Most of us who came out of school had not been taught these modern forms of computer systems. At the time, we would type our stories, send them to be edited, proof-cast and used for the page layout. After the corrections, you had to go back for typesetting. If at that stage they made any errors, they had to come back to you. It was quite challenging.

Concerning the editorial policy, it was not as liberal at the time. In fact, you could not cartoon any Head of State. Most of the cartoons that we have today in Cameroon Tribune today were absent in those days. Furthermore, we were so few to have some people go out for refresher courses abroad. The journalists were few, but more could not be recruited because of insufficient means.

When you look back at Cameroon Tribune 40 years after, what runs in my mind?

There has been a lot of improvements. For example, there are specialised reports that we have now which indeed are very topical.

Cameroon is set for economic emergence by 2035, what role is Cameroon Tribune playing?

As a medium of communication, we inform and educate especially through our editorials. We also comment on what is going on. We inform our readers and give them adequate information on what they have to do. However, we have to be constructive in our criticisms by digging deep into all these development projects that are going on.

We have to participate and even help people to understand what it means to have a good road, for example, and maintain it. To contractors, what it means to carry out a project by respecting deadlines, amongst others. Our contribution as a medium of communication is very important in that we have to educate the people.

I take as example our poor performance at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. President Paul Biya wants to find out what went wrong and how it can be corrected. This is time for us to also come out with our own suggestions. Likewise, when we have topical events in our nation, we also play our role by educating.

This is what we have to do. We have to be patriotic. What patriotism demands of people is that they should know what to do, how to go about it and contribute their quota. You have to appreciate what your country does for you.

What makes a good journalist is not being irrationally critical without looking at the realities of the society for which you work. This means that we have to be constructive in carrying out investigative reporting. Journalists do not have to be sensational, thinking that they are impressing readers or being courageous. We have to remain within our editorial policy, knowing that the aim is to inform without bias.