themselves and observers of Cameroon’s media landscape are highlighting two major developments of the last three and a half years, as salutary. The National Communication Council, which is a state owned and run entity, today plays the role of media regulator in Cameroon. Known in the past for its heavy bureaucracy and inaction, the Council has recently taken on board the issue of unprofessional conduct within media circles in a serious manner. It takes credit for bringing greater openness and transparency to its work by publishing a document that clearly outlines procedures for receiving public complaints about the media. Even though some journalists are unhappy with some of the decisions suspending media organs or their staff for unethical behaviour, there is recognition of the fact that the Council’s work has led to a reduction in the number legal cases against the media, which have in the past, ended up in jail sentences. The second major development was the 2012 National Communication Forum, another government initiative led by the Ministry of Communication. The forum, which has been described as ‘inclusive’, addressed a number of issues that are fundamental to the development of the media in its recommendations – the majority of which members of the media fraternity agree with entirely. The proposal to create a self-regulatory mechanism - as is the case with most liberal professions such as law and medicine, as well as the creation of a state run Private Media Development Fund have been welcomed as initiatives that could contribute significantly to the emergence of an ethically sound and a financially viable media landscape in Cameroon. While most of the issues dealt with during the period under review have been part of the reality of Cameroon’s media for two decades, security and safety took a completely new dimension. With the country confronted with repeated attacks by the terrorist group ‘Boko Haram’ on its northern border, and numerous incursions in the east due to the conflict in the Central African Republic, the media faced both safety and security issues as it dabbled into relatively unknown journalistic territory - conflict reporting. Professionally ill-equipped from a knowledge base perspective, journalists had to deal with problems of safety while reporting in armed conflict situations. As if that was not enough, the work of journalists was further compromised by the security concerns of state agents. Security officials were either excessively eager to use journalists to obtain valuable information about the ‘enemy’, or to use them as accomplices on the basis that they may have had contact with a person on their watch list. Many journalists have been interrogated at one point or another. Felix Cyriaque Ebole Bola of the private owned daily newspaper Mutations, Rodrigue Tongue of Le Messager and Baba Wame, a former journalist and journalism lecturer were charged with withholding important security information from the state, following a 28 October military court hearing in Yaoundé. On the whole, in drawing a balance sheet of the developments within the media in Cameroon during the last three and a half years, especially when it comes to responsibility, it is clear that the media professionals deserve the greater AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER CAMEROON 2014 77