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Sensationalism in Journalism Practice

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Sensationalism in Journalism Practice u omm nica C tio Ngange and Elempia, J Mass Communicat Journalism 2019, 9:2 s n s a & M J o f u o r Journal of l n a a n l r i s u m o J ISSN: 2165-7912 Mass Communication & Journalism Research Article OpenOpen Access Access Sensationalism in Journalism Practice: Analysis of Private and Public Print Media Coverage of Crisis Situations in Cameroon Kingsley Lyonga Ngange* and Forcha Dominic Elempia Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon Abstract Newspapers in Cameroon are increasingly attempting to lure audience and increase readership amidst stiff competition. This competition for audience and the attempt to set the agenda for the public have made many media houses to implore controversial techniques of presentation of news such as sensitive and captivating headlines, shocking images, emotional headlines, rumours, obscenity and a reduced emphasis on verification. This research examines the Cameroon print media landscape and provides empirical evidence of the presence of sensationalism in the Cameroon press and more particularly during crisis situations. A content analysis of ‘The Post Newspaper’, ‘The Guardian Post Newspaper’, and ‘Cameroon Tribune Newspaper’ is done, based on the theoretical underpinnings of the Social Responsibility theory, which highlights media’s obligations to the public. While the private press is more sensational, the public press, due to its status, tends to calm down things by using very mild tones and at times avoiding to report on controversial or crisis situations or paying less emphasis on them. The findings from 102 issues analysed reveal that the private press is notorious for using emotional headlines, rumours, imagery and very hard tone especially when it comes to criticising Government action during crisis situations. Some of the reasons which motivate sensationalism, like competition, financial gains and political leanings, have been revealed in the study. Thus, the research concludes that in addition to the many causes of sensationalism practices in journalism, the media is more likely to be sensational when it sympathises with a particular course during crisis situations. The major recommendation is that need exists for the Cameroon press to respect the basic canons of the profession (accuracy, fairness, balance and objectivity) in reporting, especially during crisis situations. Keywords: Sensationalism; Journalism practice; Print media; Public Whatever the case, sensationalism in journalism practice media; Private media; Media coverage; Crisis Situations undermines the basic canons of the profession (accuracy, objectivity, fairness and balance) and may prevent the public from being Introduction knowledgeable participants in policy discussions as well as provoke The promulgation of Law No. 90-52 of 19 December 1990 relating extremist tendencies. An appalling example is the promotion of to freedom of mass communications and association in Cameroon genocidal impulses by Radio-Télévision Libres des Milles Collines made way for several media houses to spring up. As of 2012, the then (RTLM) in Rwanda in 1994 [6]. Apart from this, Jackson (ibid) holds Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, said Cameroon that, sensational headlines and inaccuracies in the media, have made had close to 1000 newspapers, 100 radio and 15 TV stations [1]. The the media to lose their credibility as a source of information. number will be more today, especially with newspapers, though most The practice of sensationalism in the Cameroon press has been of them are seasonal or event-driven publications [2]. evoked by Nyamnjoh [7], Epule [8] and Ngange [9]. For instance, With competition going rife, especially in the print sector, media in his research on “The use of sensational front page headlines in the houses have adopted different strategies to attract and build a wider Cameroon press” Ngange notes that the Cameroon press makes great readership. One of these is captivating headlines and sometimes gross use of sensational headlines. Further findings of this research hold exaggeration (sensationalism). that the private press is more sensational as compared to the public press. In addition, private Anglophone press is more sensational as Adams, cited in Wang and Cohen [3] notes that, sensationalism compared to the private Francophone press. Ngange’s findings also and human interest stories refer to news coverage of “crime, violence, revealed that, sensationalism was more present in political stories and natural disasters, accidents, and fires, along with amusing, heart- took the form of the use of misleading words, and ironically newspaper warming, shocking, or curious vignettes about people in the area.” editors use this practice to increase sales and make more money. Close Jenkins [4] says sensationalism in the press is done by including and to two decades after this research, the practice is seemingly increasing excluding certain facts, highlighting some parts and hiding others in a news story, suggesting a reading of events by the use of captioning of a particular photograph or a leading headline. Wang and Cohen *Corresponding author: Kingsley Lyonga Ngange, Senior Lecturer and Head, (ibid) add that the “sensationalisation” of news, is centred on socially Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Buea, Molyko to Buea Town Rd, Buea, Cameroon, Tel: +237233322760; E-mail: [email protected] significant stories by “tabloid” news topics and the use of flamboyant production styles that overpower substantive information. Received April 15, 2019; Accepted April 30, 2019; Published May 08, 2019 Citation: Ngange KL, Elempia FD (2019) Sensationalism in Journalism Practice: Historically speaking, sensationalism in journalism practice was Analysis of Private and Public Print Media Coverage of Crisis Situations first witnessed at the end of the nineteenth century, in what was referred in Cameroon. J Mass Communicat Journalism 9: 411. to at the time as Yellow Journalism. Led by prominent newspaper owners in the USA like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, Copyright: © 2019 Ngange KL, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits journalism of the 1890s used drama, romance, and exaggeration to sell unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the millions of newspapers [5]. original author and source are credited. J Mass Communicat Journalism, an open access journal Volume 9 • Issue 2 • 1000411 ISSN: 2165-7912 Citation: Ngange KL, Elempia FD (2019) Sensationalism in Journalism Practice: Analysis of Private and Public Print Media Coverage of Crisis Situations in Cameroon. J Mass Communicat Journalism 9: 411. Page 2 of 7 and the more disturbing issue is that during crisis situations where the 21st Century Dictionary defines sensationalism as “the practice of or press is expected to be responsible in crisis communication, instead methods used in deliberately setting out to cause widespread excitement, outrageous headlines fill the newspaper stands. Some of the headlines intense interest or shock”. Going by this definition it is clear that the mention things to happen in the nearest future; but with the passage concept is totally different from the event, it is the act and depends of time, nothing happens and these assertions are often proven wrong. solely on the journalist or media house and what they make out of a Others magnify incidents; for instance, at the heart of the Cameroon particular story. Thus, a journalist being the first gate keeper has to Anglophone Crisis, The Post No. 1800 of Friday March 03, 2017 had choose to be sensational or not. a headline titled on its front page “BACC Board to Organise 2017 Garts [12] see sensationalism as a practice of writing to entice, GCE Exams1, Hire Examiners”. This never happened. In the same attract, stimulate, arouse, exaggerate and generally provoke an line, The Median No. 234 of Monday May 15, 2017 titled its front page emotional response in readers. However explicit this definition seems story as “Power Pass Order: Gendarmes and Police to Invigilate 2017 to be, it is limited to written material and gives the impression that GCE”. This too never happened. More recently, The Post No.01822 sensationalism is practiced only in the print sector. Wang and Cohen of Monday May 22, 2017 reported on a fire incident at the Cameroon [3] note that sensationalism is also at the visual dimension including GCE Board head office in Buea and titled it “Mysterious Fire Guts GCE the layout, headline sizes, and use of pictorial material. In this same Board Office”. This same story was reported by other press with mild line, Ngange [9] posits that the Cameroon Press uses sensationalism tones. For example, The Guardian Post No. 1178 Yaoundé of Monday in various forms: typefaces, words, colouring, and exclamation marks. May 22, 2017, titled it “Fire visits GCE board HQ, one office seriously touched”. Reporting on the case of church leaders being dragged to Sensationalism spreads across all the other conventional media court for shutting down the doors of their educational institutions and is even more visible in the new media today, which people use (primary, secondary/high schools and Universities) during the crisis, most often for activism. Graber cited in Kleemans [13] talks about the Eden Newspaper No. 1013 of Monday 24 April 2017 titled on sensationalism in TV news noting that the use of dramatic elements its front page “The anti-Christ want to rub the clergy in mud”. This often reaches the level of sensationalism. It can also be noticed headline clearly framed the complainant as the anti-Christ who in this in the way the news is packaged. Uribe and Gunter [14] describe case is the supposedly Government backed Consortium of Parents. sensationalism as “a characteristic of the news packaging process that The public print media (Cameroon Tribune), on its part, has been pro- places emphasis upon those elements that could provoke an effect on the Government, most often presenting contrary views as opposed to the human sensory system.” Hendriks [15] equally views sensationalism as private press.
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