Media coverage of Cameroons Football,One year back(case study:The Post and Cameroun Tribune

CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that the project, Print Media Coverage of Cameroon’s Football in 2011(One Year back) is the Original work of Nfor Hanson Nchanji with UB Number SM09A969.

No part of this work should in any case or anywhere be reproduced in any form, without quoting or seeking the consent of the author.

Done in Buea on August 2012

 

Signature of HOD, JMC                                                           Signature of Supervisor

……………………………………                                           ………………………………….

Henry Muluh                                                                               Julius Che Tita, PhD

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Football coverage in Cameroon in broadcast media has grown with numerous radio and TV programs like FOU FOU Foot, Sport Parade, Sports Vision, and Olympic Forum, all by the CRTV. Some of these programs focus principally on football. Nevertheless, football Magazines such as Team Soccer, Football Diary have been in the lime light, but disappeared some months after publication. Print Media Coverage of Cameroons Football in 2011, examines the level at which Cameroon newspapers report on local football. Despite the fact that the broadcast media is always ready to cover even live football matches, the Print in Cameroon also has a place in the Sun. The Post newspaper is outstanding in the year 2011 in terms of local football coverage. According to the findings which in this academic work, The Post had 21 out of 29 local news on Football, while Cameroun Tribune had 8. Out of a total of 32 articles from 18 news papers, only 3 foreign news on football featured, while 29 were local. This refutes the hypothesis that the print media in Cameroon focuses more on foreign football news. The print Media therefore gave an emphatic coverage of Cameroons football. Before arriving at findings the content analysis method was used with a cross compares of the two newspapers. Print media outlets in Cameroon should not focus much on writing, write–ups, but should rather be ready at any time to cover events, prominence should be given to local players and clubs rather than foreign based players. The national daily Cameroun Tribune should be able to focus on local football rather than on the Lions. This is because not everyone likes to read about them. The paper being a daily should be able to cover all areas in Cameroon

 

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DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to my Mum (RIP) I wish she could be alive to see what a wonderful Journalist her son has become. I also dedicate it to my family members especially my dear elder sister, Nfor Janet, for her unending support through my academic endeavors and my Aunt in Bamenda who died while I was about to submit this project. Finally to all my friends both past, present and future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I want to immensely acknowledge the efforts of the department of Journalism and Mass Communication for processing me through from a raw material to now a professional Journalist.

Special thanks also goes to my supervisor, Dr Che Tita Julius who guided me through this work, he was indeed a mentor.

I want to also acknowledge the efforts of the Post newspaper amd CBS Radio for guiding me during my internship programs.

Special thanks also goes to all my friends with whom I did group work together, I really enjoy those good days.

Finally the almighty God for his mercies and love he gave me through out my stay in UB, I couldn’t make it without Gods power and love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certification…………………………………………………………………………………………..i

Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………………ii

Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………………….. …iii

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………iv

Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….v

Chapter One: Introduction and Background ………………………..1

Background …………………………………………………………………………………………1

The Print Media in football reporting…………………………………………………………….2

Sports reporting in Cameroon…………………………………………………………………………….4

Statement of Problem…………………………………………………………………………….5

Research Questions………………………………………………………………………………6

Hypothesis……………………………………………………………………………………….6

Objectives of Study……………………………………………………………………………………7

Significance of Study……………………………………………………………………………7

                                          

                                            V

                                             

 Chapter Two: Review of the literature…………………………………8

 

Theoretical framework………………………………………………………………………………………14

Media imperialism theory………………………………………………………………………..14

Media dependency theory……………………………………………………. …………………15 Escapism………………………………………………………………………………………….15

 

 

Chapter Three: Methodology ………………………………………….16      Sampling and procedure…………………………………………………………….16

Instrument…………………………………………………………………………17

Data Collection and analysis…………………………………………………………17

Limitations…………………………………………………………………………18

 

 

 

Chapter four: Presentation of findings………………………………19

 

Number of articles………………………………………………………………………………..19

Position of articles………………………………………………………………………………..20

Length of articles…………………………………………………………………………………20

Number of football articles on Cameroon…………………………………………………. ……21

Number of foreign football news…………………………………………………………. …….22

Personality………………………………………………………………………………………..23

Team news……………………………………………………………………………………….23

Foreign based players ……………………………………………………………………………23

National team coverage………………………………………………………………….……….23

By – line………………………………………………………………… ………………………24

Interpretation…………………………………………………………… ………………………24

Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendation……………..27

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….27

Recommendation………………………………………………………………………………..29

References……………………………………………………………………………………….30

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

BACKGROUND

Sports reporting that attracted some of the finest writers in journalism can be traced to the coverage of sport in Victorian England, where several modern sports, such as association football, cricket, athletics and rugby were first organized and codified into something resembling what we would recognize today as sports reporting.

A French newspaper L’Auto in 1903, the predecessor of L’Equipe, had already   played an equally influential part in the sporting fabric of society when it announced that it would stage an annual bicycle race around the country. The Tour de France was born in 1900, and sports journalism’s role in its foundation is still reflected today in the leading rider wearing a yellow jersey – the color of the paper on which L’Auto was published.

Rice (1927), writing after the end of  World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression, said that this era was known as the Golden Age of Sports, where attention was now shifted  towards sporting activities rather than war.

Bower (2003) in his sports book of the year, Broken Dreams, analyzed British football, followed in the tradition established a decade earlier by Andrew Jennings and VyvSimson with their controversial investigation of corruption within the International Olympic Committee. Today, corruption in sports is becoming alarming with some big names like Qatar’s Bin Hamman and former coach of Juventus FC in Italy having been sanctioned by FIFA, even for life.

 

 

Sports reporting and coverage has now become a competition among Media houses and the best side receives the best credibility from the audience. The stakes can therefore be high when upsetting sport’s powers, in 2007, the England’s Football Association (FA) opted to switch its multi-million pound contract for UK coverage rights of the FA Cup and England international matches from the BBC to rival broadcasters ITV, one of the reasons cited was that the BBC had been too critical of the performances of the England football team.

Increasingly, sports journalists have turned to long-form writing, producing popular books on a range of sporting topics, including biographies, history and investigations. Most countries have their own national association of sports journalists. Many sports also have their own clubs and associations for specialist journalists. These organizations attempt to maintain the standard of press provision at sports venues, oversee fair accreditation procedures and to celebrate high standards of sports Journalism. Even in Cameroon many associations do exist as far as sport is concerned, but the most popular is Association of football reporters.

 

THE PRINT MEDIA IN FOOTBALL REPORTING

The first momentous football journalist was James A. Catton who began writing about the sport for the Preston Herald in 1875. This included covering Preston North End, one of the best football teams in England. James Catton got to know Major William Sudell, who was the secretary of the club.

To Catton, the reports on newspapers were brief, and there were none of the personal paragraphs, garrulous items, and more or less sensational news which are now part not only of weekly periodicals, but of morning and evening newspapers.

James A. Catton in 1886 began to contribute football reports for the weekly The Athletic News. He initially used the pen name of “Unique”. Later he took the name “Tityrus”. Catton eventually became the editor of the newspaper and was recognized as the most important football writer in Britain.

Football League began in September 1888. James A. Catton responded by publishing The Athletic News on Monday instead of a Saturday. Much to the delight of Catton, Preston North End won the first championship that year without losing a single match and acquired the name the “Invincible”.

The Sportsman, unlike The Athletic News, was published as a daily newspaper. Like The Sporting Life and The Sporting Chronicle, it focused on horse-racing but in the 1890s it began providing extensive courage of football. By the end of the century, 170 provincial daily papers were covering football.

The Birmingham Saturday Night in 1882 was the first “Football Special” newspaper. It was a great success and soon afterwards The Football Field and Sports Telegram was published every Saturday night in Bolton. It was not long before every city or town where the game was popular, had their own football special.

These newspapers covered local games in great detail and sold in great numbers. And now football reporting by Newspaper, Radio, Television, Internet has gone extensively as every country, be it develop or not seem to take special interest in football reporting. Football considered by many as King Sport is widely covered at national, continental and international levels. And its not ended yet, podcasting has now taken a diverse trend in sports coverage, the reporting of football has just begun.

 

 

 SPORTS REPORTING IN CAMEROON

Every country has a sole story on how it began sports reporting. Sports reporting in Cameroon began after general news and different cultures of different countries made for interesting stories .primarily, sport reporting was first aired in Cameroon in the 1960s, by the thenRadio Diffusion du Cameroon or Radio Cameroon.

There were two prominent reporters, Peter Essoka and Abel Mbengue, who reported in English and French respectively. They who both gained fame for the station in the 1970s, especially as they went to Sudan to report on the African Nation’s Cup. But Mark Nebo is said to have set the pace in presenting sports programs in the 1960s together with Denis Lafon who was based in Buea.

Today one can recall those names with some still fresh in the minds. As concerns football and sports reporting in Cameroon, names like Njomo Kelvin, 1990 World Cup reporter for Cameroon), Gregory Alem, Peter Essoka, Ben Becka Jovens also of blessed memory, Zachary Nkuo, , Peter Afuh now of late. In our contemporary reporting, ace sports reporters like Ernest Mbende, Joseph Elouondou, Fon Echekiye, Jean Lambert Nang, George Fon Tambu, David Walter Lea and others have been in the lime light. Real sports reporting in a newspaper was different for Cameroon. Hence the first newspaper in Cameroon to cover sports was the Courrier Sportive du Benin, from 1955 until 1974.

One thing stands clear, they should report facts, Boyomo (1998) warns that Cameroon sports journalists should report facts, in other not to down grade the profession.

Today, while male sportscasters still outnumber female sports broadcasters, women are participating more and more in sports, both at the collegiate and professional level and women comprise a growing percentage of sports audiences. As a result, opportunities for female ex-athletes and female broadcasters to enter into the field continue to rise. Here in Cameroon though female participation in sports reporting still appears to be timorous, equally, women began to show up in 1988 in Cameroon in the person of Pamela Messi on National television, radio sports reporters like Judith Ngale, Christina Ufenyi. Some rising stars like Magdalene Soppu Kotto who came into the public eye in 2004, Tina Kwo (RIP), Gladys Tata, Parti Ako Diffang have made their names known both on TV and Radio, covering breath taking and nail biting competitions like the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope, The African Cup of Nations, All African Games for Cameroon. This has gone a long way to show that women are increasingly getting involved in sports reporting as they will not want to be left behind and thrown into the trash can of embarrassment.

 

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Sports reporting in print media which was in high demand in the evolution of sports journalism is gradually dwindling to a mare trickle. In our Contemporary life, most Cameroonians do not rely on newspapers to give them information on local football. This is because the print media in Cameroon is suffering from media imperialism and most of them die as soon as they begin operating. This phenomenon has led many to pay attention to other media for football news, because the print even take days to report on an issue in which requires the radio just some few minutes. As a result of lack of facilities and man power to get first hand and accurate information on local football and the lack of periodization of matches, some local print media prefer to give transfers and European football news copied from the internet. They Google sites like: Supersport.com, BBC Sports, Goal.com, and Camfoot.com. Also much focus is based on write ups rather than concentrating on our MTN Elite One, Elite two, National Division One and Two which is begging for coverage daily. Therefore, there is the problem of consistency and updates as well as domination of broadcast media on print media in football coverage. As we continue in this academic finding, we are goimg to find out if this is actually the case with Cameroon Newspapers.

 

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Which print media is more frequent in reporting local football news, private or government owned and what is their level of coverage?
• What benefits do Cameroonians get from the local Print Media as concerns football?
• Which football event or personality was paid greater attention in the local print media in 2011 and which Print media gave special focus?
• How accessible and what technological advancement do local Print Media in Cameroon have in football coverage?

 

 

HYPOTHESIS

The print media in Cameroon has failed to satisfy football fans in providing them with regular information on Cameroon’s football.

Football lovers have turned to radio, television and foreign media for news on local football because the print has concentrated on foreign football.

 

 

 

OBJECTIVES

• This study aims at identifying the level of coverage of football in Cameroon by local print media.
• To also know the uses and gratification Cameroonians get from the local media and the rate of media imperialism.
• The study will also highlight whether it is the private or government owned media that paid more attention to football in 2011.
• The study also aims at exposing the low level of technological advancement and accessibility of developing countries in terms of coverage.

SIGNIFICANCE

• It is hope that this research work will help change the media dependency syndrome that is a major characteristic of Africa.
• It is going to change the conception people have about print media, which they say cover mostly politics. This will give a wide coverage of football in the country which will change people’s attitude, that of relying on foreign media for news.
• The essence of this academic work is to also situate the place of print media in Cameroon amongst others in football reporting. This will help them assess their performance.
• This work is should encourage publishers to have a special sports reporter so that when events come up, he or she could be able to cover them.

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

                                   REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Football was launched in Douala, Cameroon in 1923 by a Sierra Leonean, George Goethe. That step taken by this great man 89 years ago has degenerated into football reporting as ace football commentators among others: the veteran Zachary Nkwo, Peter Essoka, Njomo Kelvi, Jean Lambert Nang. Today, football reporting is not just a normal field but quite challenging most especially for young reporters. The creation of the professional league of football in Cameroon Elite One and Two has opened the gate for sport reporters to create an association of pro-league reporters, this association though not popular is a significant change and turnabout in football reporting in Cameroon. This is also another giant step in discovering who plays for which club and which club is able to do what.

Boyomo (1998) explains that Cameroon sports journalists should report the facts and avoid wrong facts which will down grade the profession. Boyomo warns that if this is done fans may get angry and the anger may degenerate to chaos.

Football coverage in Cameroon in broadcast media has grown with numerous radio and TV programs like FOU FOU Foot, Sport Parade, Sports Vision, and Olympic Forum, all by the CRTV. Some of these programs focus principally on football. Nevertheless, football Magazines such as Team Soccer, Football Diary had been in the lime light, but disappeared some months after publication. Silwal (1998) attributes this to financial instability. He notes that it is due to small market and lack of substantial advertisement for the magazine that leads to this unstable publication.

 

Reng (2011) author of A life too short presents: The Tragedy of Robert Enke. One of the greatest honors in sports writing, Reng’s biography of Robert Enke, the German national goalkeeper who suffered from depression and took his own life three years ago, was praised by the judging panel for its powerful and insightful nature as well as it’s sensitivity and sincerity. This goes to prove that football on and off the pitch is quite challenging.

A Life Too Short also examines the tumultuous life and untimely demise of a man who, from the outside, appeared to have it all. Acclaimed sports journalist, Ronald Reng’s intimate portrait – vivid, powerful and moving – is an outstanding piece of football writing and a very worthy winner of the prize, the 23rd William Hill Sports book of the year 2011.

Writing about football, British author Homby (1992) in his Fever Pitch: A Fan’s Life book, tells the story of the author’s relationship with football and with Arsenal Football Club in particular. It consists of a large number of short essays, each focused on a single match between 1968 and 1992. As well as recounting Arsenal’s highs and lows, Homby relates them to his own personal life, musing both on his worship of Arsenal heroes such as Liam Brady, and the fate of infamous failures such as Gus Caesar. Homby does not end at reporting football but also looks at the people who make the noise and beautify the game. The fans to him form a strong allied with their teams. Football reporting is therefore not only an affair of footballers and big managers but also the spectators.

 

Kuper (2006) in his Football against the Enemy opines that throughout the world, football is a potent force in the lives of billions of people. Focusing on national, political and cultural identities, to him, football is the medium through which the world’s hopes and fears, passions and hatreds are expressed.”Kuper explains that politics in football has taken a different proportion, he cites Dutch national team and their hatred of the Germans in 92-94 periods.

 

Bower (2003) in his critical report about British football says that it is full of vanity, greed and the unpleasant, in what he terms broken dreams. According to Bower, football should be about much more than money and egos. He reveals that it is a microcosm of the nation’s successes and failures, and reporters should be on the alert.

Gary (2001) notes that Football Heroes serves as testimonial. Like a lot of sports writing, its a grief-work, a record of loss and disappointment, a wondering at what we half-remember and half-invented, and an attempt to hang on to the few things we have and share: the tournament; the match; the game. Gary illustrates this in his 240pp My Father and Other Working-Class Football Heroes when he says “The decent, honest humorous Scot always gave 100%.”

Football reporting in the African scene has also grown and gradually involving politics.

Chazaud & Tado (2005), writing on sociology of African football, analyzed the role of religious beliefs and systems of organization of football, popular or semi-professional in Africa. Their main aim is to highlight the differences in social practices of football compared to Europe, taking into account the legacy of colonial history and the many ethnic cultures.

 

Prudhomme-Poncet (2003) commenting on Women’s football history in the twentieth century and female in reporting, reveals that though women’s football was Born in Paris in 1917, it disappeared on the eve of World War II and did not reappear until the mid-60s. Prudhomme-Poncet reveals that women now account for only 2% of graduates of French Football Federation. This book on women football attempts to understand this marginality and the chaotic development of women’s football and reporting in terms of the evolution of football in the twentieth century and the changing status of women in France.

Alan & Carlisle (2010) corroborate this by saying that men are described as big, strong, brilliant, gusty and aggressive; women are always referred to as weak, fatigued, frustrated, panicked, vulnerable and choking.

 

Cianferani et al (2008) explains that football coverage has now become business, the authors make the link between the huge sums involved in clubs and the influence of the economics of sports on the strategy of the game they are based on research in economics and sociology of sport and provide statistical evidence of the importance increasing the defensive play and the impact of economic considerations on football.

 

Sambe (2008) in his article on Black African Sport, describes El Hadji Diouf as rebel footballer, as he unties the knots and tangles of Diouf through careful and serious months of investigation and sixty interviews: from the players childhood friends, coaches, teammates and Dioufs father given his own comment about his prodigal son. This brings an aspect of investigative football reporting.

 

Piraudeau (2012) also investigates into some practices on the drift of contemporary football and gives an insight into the various drifts identified in and around the stadia and also on the excesses committed by the football players and institutions. Observed in the middle of a sports subject of attention, corruption, doping, violence and racism are all supporting this study through both social dimension, human, economic and sports.

 

Boyd (2001) says many in the audience will stay to hear the end of the news because they are sure of getting football, cricket or rugby news. To him, Sports Journalism is therefore a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events. While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the ‘serious’ topics covered by the news desk, sports coverage has grown in importance as sport has grown in wealth, power and influence.

 

Gounot et al (2012) in an article on the Uses of political football explains that the political use of sport in football is an illustration of choice. Three points are discussed here: the media’s responsibility in the politicization of football events, the use of football by politicians to address issues of national identity, regional or local authorities how the attitude of the audience may be a pretext for a “politicization “of the sport.

 

Daplex (2011) an anthropologist, rich in experience as a sports instructor, illuminates on soccer as business in his article The Business and Soccer. He sees such phenomena as the hero or idolatry, which motivates such children, in their dual approach of actors and spectators of the football world. To Daplex, football and society are related to one another. Hence football reporters are indifferent.

 

Football reporting in Cameroon is therefore not left out of this contention, these days big men make news and he who cannot afford to pay a media house to cover his Football competition will be left in the cold. It has therefore become a business for and of the media.

This is the more reasons why Father Jean Patrice (2011) in trying to moralize football reporting, draws lessons of the 2006 world cup where African journalists were told to report fair things about south Africa and how football reporters were involved in malpractices. Commenting on the immorality of world football, Father Jean Patrice comments that Football arouses all kinds of covetousness. The “business” of corruption, rigging of games, malfeasance affects all countries.

 

Corrieredella Sera in 2012 asked the president of the Federation Internationale de Football (FIFA), Mr. Sepp Blatter  on the case of Italy, the president believes that the recent case of match fixing that shook the Italian championship (the calcio) for over a month is “terrible”, and it is the “biggest scandal in the history of football.”.

The case revealed by the press coverage, the retransmission of telephone tapping ordered by the court, then the announcement of the existence of a vast criminal investigation into alleged match-fixing of the 2004-2005 season, and Paris involving illegal players including Juventus, Italian champions this season, has taken on dramatic proportions. Forty people were summoned for interrogation, including the referees, the managing director of Juventus, Luciano Moggi, who has since been sacked by the Agnelli family, the club’s majority shareholder, industrialist Diego Della Valle, owner of the shoes Tod’s and president of Fiorentina, and former president of the

Federation of Italian Franco Carraro.

Four top clubs (Juventus, Ac Milan, Fiorentina, and Lazio) are threatened with relegation and administrative division. Football reporters hold the view that the idea of FIFA and UNICEF publishing a booklet for coaches to learn how to manage their violence among young people is greatly welcome. According to them, coaching Boys into Men aims to help coaches around the world to set a good example to their players, focusing on key concepts such as the flair play. The document lays out a bold comparison between values ​​at all the great teams, integrity, sportsmanship, discipline, teamwork and respect, and those which govern the relationships within any thriving community.

 

Sports journalism and football reporting is an essential element of any news media organization with newspapers such as L’Equipe in France, La Gazzettadello Sport in Italy, Marca in Spain, and the defunct Sporting Life in Britain, American magazines such as Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News, all-sports talk radio stations, and television networks such as Euro Sport, ESPN and The Sports Network (TSN).Online football sites in Cameroon such as Camfoot, Fecafoot, This is Sport this is football, are all media through which football and sport reporters can easily get to their audience in Cameroon. Others use Radio stations to broadcast specialize sport programs such as Mount Cameroon FM’s (sport diary, Dimanch sport, On and Off the pitch and Sport pavilion), CBS’s (sport fiesta and sport plus), Chariot FM’s (sport flash and sport and music).Most of these programs broadcast about 90% of football.

 

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

Three theories will be used in this study; they include Media Imperialism, Escapism and Media dependency theories.

 

MEDIA EMPERIALISM THEORY

Boyd (2003) writing on the website Wise Geek, defines Media imperialism as the dominance of larger media over smaller ones. To him, it mostly occurs when big countries dominate smaller ones who lose their identity because of smaller media output. This research aims at discovering the output of The Post newspaper in terms of local football coverage and cross compare with its foreign football stories as well as with that of Cameroun Tribune. It should be noted that media imperialism can also mean big media in one country determine the output of a smaller media in the same country, case of CRTV in Cameroon.

 

MEDIA DEPENDENCY THEORY

Sandra Ball and Melvin Defleur (1976) states that the more dependent an individual is on the media for having information or needs, the more important the media will be to that person. This theory is also based on Uses and Gratification Theory and ties with Agenda setting Theory. This brings the question of what use The Post and Cameroon Tribune are to the Cameroonians when it comes to local football reporting. Do they pay attention to particular events that the people want to read?

ESCAPISM

According to Sage Journals, media escapism theory states that the audience or readers turn to avoid the output of local media content to foreign content due to one reason or the other. It may be because they find nothing interesting in local media to read about. It is due to this reason that some local media in trying to satisfy the wants of its audience will focus mostly on foreign stories and news on home base players who are in Europe or other parts of the world.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

                                        METHODOLOGY

Research design is the framework for a study that is used in collecting and analyzing a set of data, Churchill (1977).

The study, Media Coverage of Cameroons’ Football, will make use of the qualitative research method called content analysis. Holsti (1969) says content analysis is any technique used for making references by objectivity and systematically identifies specific characteristics of meanings

According to Dr Farooq Joublish, Content Analysis is a scholarly methodology in the humanities by which texts are studied on authorship, authenticity or meaning; who says what, to whom, why, to what extent and with what effects.

This method is the best, hence it will give summaries and in-depth information on how the media in Cameroon gave attention to football events in the year 2011, this will be done through textual analysis and cross compare, of the Post Newspaper and Cameroun Tribune articles.

 

SAMPLING AND PROCEDURE

This study will make use of the simple random sampling of 24 newspapers for the twelve months of the year 2011, twelve from the Post and twelve from Cameroun Tribune, where at least every month will be x-rayed on the sports page. In the sample, editions of The Post and Cameroun Tribune from 10-15 of each month will be used, this is because within this time frame, many burning issues occurred in Cameroons football. using one edition in one month for twelve months will amount to 24 papers as sample size out of a sample population of 2 print media houses with 84 and 48 newspapers for Cameroun Tribune and The Post respectively.

INSTRUMENT

The main instrument used in this study was the data sheet, getting extracts, cut offs from sports page on football. Unit of observation and analysis technique was cross comparism of the various stories with textual evidence.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSES

Collection of data on print Media Coverage of Cameroon’s football in 2011, started on July 10, 2012, using three days to collect the data and Five days to analyze. The study made use of a simple random sampling as explained earlier in chapter three. Twelve issues of The Post and Cameroun Tribune were selected each making a total of 24 issues. Each issue representing a month out of twelve months. The study also looked at how the two Newspapers focused on Cameroon’s football in terms of coverage, selecting a day from between 10 – 15 of every month which made a total of 24 days; six variables were to arrive at findings. Since I lived in a Francophone zone before and with my little knowledge in French, I was able to read some of the stories written in French, in Cameroun Tribune, but some words that were more than me, I used the Google translation for better understanding.

 

 

The task, then, is to find an overall frame and to focus the diverse field of sports reporting, to preserve and present this very diversity as much as possible. This will help to keep many and varied editors, sports reporters and media houses together without forcing them to write the same material in the same way.

 LIMITATIONS

• Limitations exist everywhere and so this study being part of life is not void of limitations. Due to time and limited scope of study due to financial constraint, it was difficult to have newspapers from, Le Messager and other newspapers, reasons why the study cannot be generalized in the whole of Cameroon. Hence results may not be reliable because findings do not involve all newspapers in Cameroon.
• It was quite a headache to get literature review on this topic especially in Cameroon; this is because little or nothing has been written about football in Cameroon.
• It would have taken me much time to read all the newspapers in 2011 by The Post, 104 and Cameroun Tribune, 365, when one is preparing for second semester exams, reasons why the study does not cover all the days in the various publications.
• To produce an edited work in few months will have at least three types of problems relating to the question of editing, presentations and content. Especially collecting review of books written by different authors who consciously or unconsciously each have their own point of view.

                                             

                                              CHAPTER FOUR

                                    PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

After collecting and organizing the data from The Post and Cameroun Tribune, these data were then analyzed and interpreted as in the following, using six variables. The unit of analysis was the articles.

RQ1

• Which print media is more frequent in reporting local football news, private or government owned and what is their level of coverage?

 

NUMBER OF ARTICLES

After collecting data from 12 issues each from the Post and Cameroun Tribune, a total of 32 articles on football were realized, The Post had 23 articles 71.9%, while Cameroun Tribune had 9 articles, 28.1%. Two issues of the Post had no story on football or sports.The months were October immediately after Elections and December, after the Cabinet Reshuffle. This shows how The Post gives particular interest to politics over football when need arises. Also four issues of Cameroun Tribune had no story on football rather; other sports were in the lime light.  The Post though a bi- weekly publication, covered more football stories than the National daily Cameroun Tribune.

 

 

POSITION OF ARTICLES

Out of the 24 Newspapers, 6 issues carried no football story. From the 3 2 articles, 20 were found at the back page, two appeared on the centre spread in two issues of The Post. 10 of the articles were found inside the others pages. No story was found at the front page. It is worth noting that 15 stories appeared on the back pages of the Post and just 5 for Cameroun Tribune and The Post also carried 2 articles at the centre spread. From the foregoing, we can therefore conclude that The Post gave much importance to their coverage because most of their stories appeared at strategic pages given great quality and quantity to their coverage.

LENGTH OF ARTICLES

Out of the 32 stories most were segmented into boxes. The Post which had 10 issues with football news contained 3 issues on 1\2 a page, 4 issues on a three-quarter page and three issues on full pages. While Cameroun Tribune had five newspapers that carried football articles on half a page while three others were on a one-quarter page.

From the above, we can conclude that The Post, did not only cover football, but gave particular interest in the length of the stories. Cumulatively the Post covered five and a half pages on football, 61.1%, while Cameroun Tribune covered three and a half pages, 38.9%. The Post, there fore covered two pages more than Cameroun Tribune. This goes to reveal the relevance The Post give to their stories.

 

 

RQ2

• What benefits do Cameroonians get from local print media as concerns football?

NUMBER OF FOOTBALL ARTICLES ON CAMEROON

A content analysis of The Post and Cameroon Tribune on the coverage of Cameroon’s 2011 football, reveals that despite the fact that the data was collected between 10 – 15 of each month in which The Post is a bi-weekly, The Post seemed to have covered more stories on Cameroon football than Cameroun Tribune, which alongside football news covered several other sport stories. The Post had 21 articles on Cameroon football, 72.4%, while Cameroun Tribune had 8 amounting to 27.6 %. This shows that although some stories attracted a lot of print coverage, most of the articles were not covered by Cameroun Tribune.

RQ4

• How assessable and what technological advancement do local print media in Cameroon have in covering football?

What the study also found out was that both newspapers focused mainly on what happened within their Region where their headquarters are based. Out of 21 articles on Cameroons football, in The Post, 9 of them concern the South West Region, while Cameroun Tribune published 5 articles on local clubs mostly from the center region. This confirms the news value of proximity. But one would have expected the national daily, Cameroun Tribune to cover all areas rather than concentrating on clubs from the center Region and North Region. On the other hand, the articles on The Post newspapers do not really reflect the fact that someone went out on coverage, 6 of their stories are right – ups. This could be due to poverty; Tanjong (2012) attributes this to imbalance. Cameroun Triune being a bilingual daily covered all its stories because they had no right-up. In a nut – shell The Post newspapers focused more in the coverage of football on their sports pages in the year 2011 than Cameroun Tribune. Nevertheless, out of the 32 articles, 29 of them are on local football, therefore Cameroun Tribune and Post did a massive coverage of local football news.

This rejects the hypothesis which says that Print media have failed to provide its readers with local football news.

NUMBER OF FOREIGN FOOTBALL NEWS

Out of the 32 stories on football, just 3 of them were foreign news. Cameroun Tribune had one article, 33.3% and the Post had two articles, 66.7%, on one issue. The nature and pictures of these articles shows that they were lifted from the internet because there was no by-line. Even though the two Print houses carried little number of foreign articles; they were found guilty of Media dependence and imperialism. Nevertheless, the fact that local media had just three articles of foreign football shows that they gave particular attention to local football news.

 

RQ3

• Which football event or personality was given greater attention in the local print media in 2011 and which print media gave it special focus?

 

 

PERSONALITY

Out of the 32 articles, The Post had 8 of them on personalities, 80%, while Cameroun Tribune had 2, 20%. This shows that The Post focused much on prominence and News on stars. Four out 8 personality articles on The Post focused on Samuel Eto’o.

TEAM NEWS

On articles concerning teams, 19 of the 32 stories focused on team news. Cameroun Tribune had 8 articles on local and national teams, 36.8%, while The Post had 12 articles on both local and National teams, 63.2%.

FOREIGN BASED PLAYERS

Of the 32 stories 3 articles focused on foreign based players. The Post carried 2 articles, 66.7% on two Cameroonians abroad, while Cameroun Tribune focused on Samuel Eto’o in their lone foreign article33.3%.Worthy of note is the fact that there was no story on any foreign player or club nor country. This shows that Cameroon Print Media, Cameroun Tribune and The Post paid less attention to foreign football news.

 NATIONAL TEAM COVERAGE

Out of the 9 articles from 8 issues of the national daily Cameroun Tribune, more attention was paid to the national team, Lionesses and Lions. Four of their articles focused on these teams. Since Cameroun Tribune is national and Government owned, it is but normal that they play a key role in the coverage of activities for the national teams. On its part, The Post had 5 articles on the national teams, 4 for the Lions and 1 on the Lionesses. This isn’t a good number because they had a total of 23 articles; this therefore means that Cameroun Tribune covered more of national news than The Post.

BY – LINE

In terms of by – line, The Post had eight journalists who contributed in writing the 23 articles with a lady, Leocadia Bongben, scoring the highest number of articles 5. Cameroun Tribune had 3 persons who covered 9 articles including a lady, Hanne, who covered 3 articles. This shows that though The Post seemed to have no permanent sport reporter, one lady, Leocadia Bongben, stands outstanding in the coverage of football and sports. In a general analysis women too are not left out when it comes to print football coverage. One can therefore conclude from the above that Women are becoming increasingly interested in sports coverage, where out of 32 stories, 8 of them are written by two women and 24 are written by nine men.

This findings, refutes the hypothesis that football lovers have turn to the radio and television and foreign media for local football news because local media has concentrated on foreign articles. The fact that the two media houses focused; mainly on articles on local personalities and team news shows that they concentrated on Cameroons football in 2011.

 INTERPRETATION

The general idea of this research was based on how the Print Media in Cameroon covered football matches in the Country. In this case, The Post and Cameroun Tribune were chosen to give the finding a quantitative and qualitative touch, as well as to measure the level of coverage between a private press and a state owned Newspapers. The study also sought to know whether the local print Media paid less attention to local football. From findings, it is clear that The Post newspaper was more frequent in reporting local and national football news with 21 articles, 72.4%, than Cameroun Tribune which had 8 local football news, 27.6%.

Findings also shows that the Lions poor participation in the 2010 world cup and their failures on many occasions in 2011 were at the center of attraction for both Cameroun Tribune and The Post. 9 articles on the Loins featured on their issues with bitter emphasis on their lack luster performances, because people want to read sensational and critical articles, The Post newspapers turn to set the agenda with sensational headlines such as “when Lions lose their bite; Lions sharpen their weapon, Good team challenge for Cameroon, Lionesses offered the chance to qualify for London Olympics “, 2010 failed expeditions and Lions dwindling fortunes.

This research findings therefore answers some of our questions as to whether the reporting of football by the print media has benefitted the Cameroonians, this was confirmed as true because  many of football lovers always turn at the back pages of every issue to see what is new on the sports pages. Detailed analyses shows that The Post which is private owned paid more attention to local football with 23 articles and Cameroun Tribune which is a national daily had just 9 articles. One would have thought that since Cameroun Tribune has the manpower, they would dominate the coverage. Perhaps it is because Cameroun Tribune being a national daily and at the center of sports complex in Yaoundé where sports competition takes places, also tries to serve the nation with other non-football news such as Basketball, Volleyball , handball etc.  Cameroun Tribune therefore did a qualitative report while the Post did a quantitative as well as a qualitative report.

 Summary of data sheet

NAME OF PAPER	VARIABLE	RESPONSE CATEGORIES	PERCENTAGE     %	NAME OF PAPER	VARIABLE	RESPONSE CATEGORIES	PERCENTAGE
THE POST	NUMBER OF ARTICLES	23	71.9	CAM. TRIBUN	NUMBER OF ARTICLES	9	28.1
THE POST	LENGTH OF ARTICLES	5 and 1/2 Pages	61.1	CAM TRIBUN	LENGTH OF ARTICLES	3 and ½ pages	38.9
THE POST	NUMBER OF LOCAL FOOTBALL NEWS	21	72.4	CAM TRIBUN	NUMBER OF LOCAL FOOTBALL NEWS	8	27.6
THE POST	NUMBER OF FOREIGN FOOTBALL NEWS	2	66.7	CAM TRIBUN	NUMBER OF    FOREIGN FOOTBALL NEWS	1	33.3
THE POST	PERSONALITY-   TEAM NEWS—   FOREING PLAYERS-   FOREIGN NEWS- TRANSFER—-	8   12     2   0 1	80   63.2     66.6   0 100	CAM TRIBUN	PERSONALITY-   TEAM NEWS—   FOREING PLAYERS-   FOREIGN NEWS- TRANSFER—-	2   8   1     0 0	20   36.8 33.4       0 0

                                                   

                                           

                                                   CHAPTER FIVE

                               CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

CONCLUSION

A detailed analysis of 24 newspapers of both The Post and Cameroun Tribune revealed that 32 articles featured in 18 of the issues while six papers had no story on football. The post had 23 articles, 71.9%, while Cameroun Tribune had 9 articles, 28.1%, further more; The Post had 21 local stories on Cameroon’s football, making a total of 65.6%, while Cameroun Tribune had 8 articles with a total of 25%. Cumulatively, both The Post and Cameroun tribune gave a 90.6% coverage of Cameroons football over foreign with just 9.4%.

The above analysis shows that despite the fact that The Post is a bi-weekly publication, it covered more articles on football than Cameroun Tribune which is a daily publication. The Post Newspaper was therefore frequent in reporting football news than Cameroun Tribune.

This research finding shows that the ownership and control of a medium might be a determinant factor in covering football stories. Cameroun Tribune did not cover many stories on football because it also had as responsibility to cover other sports disciplines. But The Post being privately owned, may decide to cover just what their readers demand most and what sells the paper, and that is football. But accessibility seemed to be a great problem for both The Post and Cameroun Tribune; they both covered what was nearer to them. But the issue now is whether they reflected news worthy stories.

The fact that out of 32 stories, 29 of them were focused on Cameroons football and personalities refutes the hypothesis that print Media in Cameroon has failed to satisfy football fans in providing them news on Cameroons football. Research findings prove that the print Media especially private, The Post focused more on local football in the year 2011.

Furthermore it was discovered that The Post gave both a quantitative and qualitative report with articles on back and centre spread. This shows how The Post gave much importance to their report.

The research also ties in with the objective which is based on the low levels of technological advancement and accessibility of the developing countries in terms of coverage. This explains why both The Post and Cameroun Tribune gave more importance to clubs and personalities in their Region of headquarter rather than embarking on a general coverage of the country. And the fact that Cameroun Tribune has fewer articles shows that in spite of its resources and man power, it is still lagging behind in terms of full coverage of football events that take place in the Country.

It was also discovered that the level of coverage of Cameroon’s local and national football was higher in 2011 than foreign football news. Out of 24 Newspapers, 18 had at least one article on Cameroonian football. This also refutes the idea that the print media in Cameroon focus more on Politics.

 

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

The research of Print Media coverage of Cameroons football one year back (2011) brings out the need for private print media to have a permanent sport reporter in order to cover events as they occur to satisfy their readers.

The research should be used by publishers to situate the place of print Media in Cameroon amongst others in football reporting. This will help then access their performance.

Print media outlets should not focus much on writing, write–ups, but should rather be ready at any time to cover events, prominence should be given to local players and clubs rather than foreign based players.

Finally, the national daily Cameroun Tribune should be able to focus on local football rather than on the Lions. This is because not everyone likes to read about them. The paper being a daily should be able to cover all areas in Cameroon.

This research project therefore should be used to change the conception people have about print Media and this will make them to go for local print media for information on their beloved sports discipline, football.

Suggestion for Further research

Another research could be carried out on the broadcast Media’s coverage of Cameroons football, to access which Medium is more frequent in the coverage of football activities in the country.

 

                                                              REFERENCES

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