Cameroon’s 2025 presidential election exposed a troubling paradox: a nation voting under the watchful eye of power, while its press remained silenced. From the arrest of a teenage reporter to bans on political debate and digital manipulation, freedom of expression is under siege, and journalism is on trial.

At just 18, Souga Tsogo Gabrielle never imagined she would end up in detention when she went to cover pre-election litigations at Cameroon’s Constitutional Council on 4 August 2025.

The young journalist, interning with a local newspaper, was arrested after receiving a photo of the Council building via WhatsApp to help her locate it. Police accused her of taking the photo herself, confiscated her phone, and detained her. “The police concluded that I had taken the picture, and that’s why I was arrested,” she told AJR duing a telephone interview.

Her time in a criminal cell with men, the fingerprinting and mugshots, and the fear that grew as night fell were profoundly distressing. Gabrielle was released after 24 hours following pressure from journalists’ professional associations. “It’s thanks to media pressure that I was released,” she added.

Gabrielle’s arrest and brief detention reflect a deeper, long-standing problem within Cameroon’s media landscape, particularly during election periods. Twelve candidates, including long-time president Paul Biya, who has been in power for over four decades, contested the vote, which Biya ultimately won, extending his mandate until 2032.

Journalist Intimidation and Crackdown on Free Speech

In late 2024, the government of Cameroon banned all reporting on President Paul Biya’s health, describing it as a national security matter. This was one of several restrictions leading up to the presidential election of 12 October 2025.

Ahead of the vote, journalists faced tight accreditation rules. They were required to hold a valid press card, prove they had not been sanctioned by the National Communication Council (NCC), show that their media outlet was legally registered, and secure accreditation from both the Ministry of Communication and the elections authority. Observers saw these measures as an attempt to silence independent journalists.

In a similar move, the NCC banned political debates on television and radio throughout the campaign period, from 27 September to 11 October 2025. Cameroonian journalist Jude Mbaku criticised the decision in an open letter to NCC boss, Joseph Chebonkeng, writing: “How does the NCC intend to reconcile this suspension with the constitutional duty of the press to inform, educate, and sensitise the electorate without fear or favour?”

The NCC had issued a similar ban before the 2018 general elections, citing fears that open debates could provoke political conflict. According to Ann Nabila, a journalist with Equinox TV, such actions by the Council simply “cause some journalists to shrink.”

Viban Jude, President of the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ), understands the difficult and often murky terrain journalists navigate in Cameroon, especially during election periods. He says the association before the 0ctober polls, organised trainings to equip journalists with skills in election reporting and safety measures during such times. To him, “No story is worth a journalist’s life.”

In August 2025, government forces raided a private television station in Douala that was airing a pre-recorded programme featuring opposition figure Dieudonné Yebga, ordering it off the air without explanation. Similar incidents occurred in 2024, with journalists reporting assaults and intimidation by law enforcement, particularly against those who criticised the 92-year-old president

The pressure on the media during election periods in Cameroon is far from new. Veteran journalist Charlie Ndi Nchia recalls facing it as far back as 1992, when Cameroon held its first democratic elections. He remembers the “huge risks” and “great courage” shown by journalists covering what he called a “farce” of an election.

Despite the deliberate obstacles set by the Biya regime, Ndi Nchia said, “the media did its utmost best.” The personal cost, however, was severe. He was advised to “disappear,” prompting him to flee into self-exile in Nigeria.

Reflecting on his long career, Ndi Nchia draws comparisons between the Biya era and that of Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon’s first president. Under Ahidjo, he says, journalists were imprisoned but “hardly killed.”

“In fact, Ahidjo was known to invite stubborn journalists for face-to-face confrontations, none of whom were known to have been locked up or made to disappear afterward,” he recalled. He contrasts this with the Biya regime, which he says, “inherited and intensified practices like pre-publication censorship,” creating a far more dangerous environment for the press.

The Enduring Grip on Media and Asymmetry in Media Coverage of Candidates

Cameroon’s media landscape is far from a level playing field. State-controlled outlets such as Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) and the daily newspaper, CameroonTribune continue to enjoy preferential treatment: from privileged access to government information to steady financial support. In stark contrast, independent media that struggle to survive, operating with scarce resources and facing constant political and financial pressures.

While Biya consistently enjoys generous airtime and favourable coverage across most media outlets before, during and even after the 2025 presidential elections, money also plays a role. A leading English-language newspaper publisher, who requested anonymity, admitted that financial influence often determines coverage. “I have salaries to pay,” he said candidly. “When Biya’s party offers financial support, it’s hard to turn it down. Sometimes you do it reluctantly, but you do it.”

Nabila agrees, adding that “the ethical dilemmas that arise from economic hardship make journalists vulnerable to political manipulation especially during elections periods.”

Even with this bias, some argue that opposition parties share part of the blame. Njodzeka Danhatou, producer of Road to Etoudi on Mimi Mefo Info, an online programme that offered every presidential candidate a platform, says many opposition teams fail to engage. “We reached out to all 12 candidates for the 2025 elections,” he explained. “Only seven responded, and some ignored official invitations altogether.”

He added that gathering information about opposition candidates is often difficult. “Most of them don’t even have updated online platforms,” he told AJR in a telephone interview, reflecting on the communication gap that continues to disadvantage them in Cameroon’s tightly controlled media space.

A Divided and Polarised Press

Cameroon’s media once again revealed its deep divisions and polarisation before, during, and after the 2025 presidential elections. The country boasts more than 600 newspapers, 200 radio stations, and over 60 television channels, yet unity in journalistic integrity remains elusive according to Danhatou “Several media houses clearly took sides during the elections,” said journalist  Danhatou. In July, for instance, three newspapers ran almost identical front-page headlines branding opposition candidate Maurice Kamto a “fascist” and a “gangster,”  in what appeared to be a coordinated smear campaign. Kamto, who was ultimately barred from contesting, had finished second in the 2018 elections and was widely seen as Biya’s strongest challenger.

“There are some hardcore opposition media outlets that will hardly ever say anything positive about the ruling party — just as some pro-government outlets will never criticise it,” Danhatou observed.

Before the vote, the state broadcaster CRTV ran an online poll asking Cameroonians to choose their preferred presidential candidate. However, the poll was abruptly deleted after Biya’s main rival, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, took a significant lead.

After the elections, the bias only deepened. Many media outlets according to Danhatou projected winners not based on official data but according to their political sympathies. Some proclaimed Tchiroma the victor, while others confidently declared Biya had won, all claiming to rely on “trends” from polling stations.

When Tchiroma prematurely announced himself as president-elect, reactions from the press mirrored the country’s divide. Some outlets, went as far as referring to him as the “president-elect” even before official results were published, a move that once again brought to the fore the blurring line between journalism and partisanship in Cameroon’s media landscape.

AI, Social Media, Misinformation and Disinformation

Nearly all 12 candidates used social mdia to engage with voters. However, the incumbent president went a step further by employing artificial intelligence: his campaign video was AI-generated, sparking widespread criticism from Cameroonians. Many argued that the video was misleading and intended to conceal the failures of Biya’s government.

Due to the speed at which information circulated online, Danhatou observed that it became increasingly difficult to distinguish fact from falsehood, opening the floodgates to misinformation and disinformation.

Henry Ekpele Mekole, author of Social Media and Electoral Law Violation in Cameroon: The Case of the 2018 Presidential Election, sees social media as a “double-edged sword,” especially for journalists who depend on it for news. “Some fake accounts are created by foreign entities to influence our elections,” he told AJR, stressing the need for journalists to thoroughly fact-check any information they obtain from social media.

In his research, Mekole notes that social media was used to violate Cameroon’s electoral laws before, during, and after the 2018 presidential election. Although the law stipulates that results should only be declared by the Constitutional Council within 15 days after polling, numerous bloggers and social media users prematurely announced their own “winners,” setting the stage for potential post-election unrest.

“We were misled twice by social media,” says Danhatou, adding that the impact could have been worse if not for his media organisation’s rigorous fact-checking efforts.

A social media user from the town of Buea, who requested anonymity, admitted: “I shared updates from various polling stations on several WhatsApp groups”. “I only shared the ones” he continued “that favoured the candidate I supported. I didn’t verify whether they were true or false, after all, everyone else was sharing election trends too.”

Following the disputed 2018 presidential elections, social media also became a breeding ground for tribal hate, with supporters of the two main candidates using it to spread hostility. The same pattern now appears to be resurfacing in 2025. While social media has been a powerful tool during Cameroon’s presidential election, it has also been a casualty. The government imposed internet shutdowns and deliberately slowed down bandwidth, disrupting access to social media, a practice that drew widespread condemnation both at home and abroad.

The polarisation of Cameroon’s media, the tightening grip of the state, and the digital chaos fuelled by misinformation together paint a worrying picture of democracy under strain. The 2025 elections showed that journalism in Cameroon remains both a battleground and a mirror, reflecting the country’s political fractures and testing its democratic resolve. The question that remains is whether the next generation of journalists, like Gabrielle, will inherit a media environment ruled by fear or one finally guided by freedom and fairness.