SECTOR 4 Media owners systematically dishonour both labour regulations and agreements with their staff. Several years ago, journalists and employees signed a collective bargain agreement spelling out minimum working conditions, including starting salaries. The agreement set the entry salary at 160,000 CFA (around 290 USD) a month. A few newspapers, such as Mutations, Le Messager and Le Jour have privately negotiated salary scales that are much higher than the minimum set in the collective bargain agreements. However, neither these in-house and collective agreements are fully respected. In contrast, journalists of the public sector have higher, regular salaries. Most are paid using the civil service scale and enjoy multiple benefits such as health and safety insurance. On average, the starting salary for journalists at CRTV is 250,000 CFA (around 440 USD), about the same starting salary for teachers and medical doctors. However, with the increasing cost of living, particularly in the big cities, public sector journalists still consider their salaries as small. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: ✓ ✓✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓✓ ✓✓ 2.2 (2008 = n/a; 2011 = 1.2; 2014 = 1.8) 4.4 Journalists and other media practitioners are organised in trade unions and/or professional associations, which effectively represent their interests It is hard to tally the number of media trade unions and associations in Cameroon. They have mushroomed over the years, along with the growth of other NGOs in the country. The most notable association in the country is the UCJ, even though it has been dormant for many years. In the meantime, the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) and the Cameroon Employed Journalists Trade Union (CEJTU) have emerged as the most vibrant. The Cameroon Association of Sports Journalists, the Association of Economic Journalists of Cameroon and the National Audiovisual Union are highly specialised and less known to the wider public. Unions and professional organisations serve the interests of their members to varying degrees. Amongst other things, CEJTU has helped negotiate collective bargain agreements on behalf of its members. CAMASEJ focuses on professional 44 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER CAMEROON 2018