NCC Suspends Vision 4, Journalists
Cameroon’s National Communication Council has suspended private broadcaster Vision 4 from broadcasting for one month, escalating a dispute with the station that has already moved into the courts.
The decision was taken Tuesday, September 29, at the regulator’s 48th extraordinary session in Yaounde. The council also suspended Vision 4 media director Philippe Boney from practicing journalism for one month and extended journalist Martial Owona’s suspension from three to six months.
The latest sanctions stem partly from a June 2 report by Owona concerning Me. Félicité Esther Zeifman, an attorney representing the family of slain journalist Martinez Zogo. The CNC had previously found that the report contained statements it considered harmful to Zeifman’s dignity and suspended Owona for three months in August.
The regulator said Tuesday that Vision 4 had also failed to implement the earlier sanction and that some of its officials did not respond to summonses to appear before the council.
Boney was separately sanctioned over remarks attributed to him during the Aug. 30 edition of Club d’Élite, which the CNC considered to constitute a challenge to its authority.
The latest decision comes as the dispute between Owona and the regulator has entered the judicial system. Following his initial three-month suspension, Owona initiated legal proceedings involving CNC President Joseph Chebongkeng Kalabubsu. A court summons requires Chebongkeng to appear before an investigating chamber in Ngoumou on Wednesday, Sept. 30.
The case has therefore created a parallel judicial track as the CNC continues to exercise its regulatory powers over Vision 4 and its journalists.
The CNC’s latest action increases Owona’s suspension to six months while imposing a one-month broadcasting suspension on Vision 4 and a one-month professional suspension on Boney.
