While many journalists demonstrate admirable resilience in producing quality journalism under precarious conditions, resilience should not be the only safety net. Journalism deserves protection, because democracy depends on it.

In a media landscape where French dominance dictates policy and airtime, English-speaking reporters in Cameroon are forced into a relentless cycle of improvisation, translation, and professional exhaustion. From the "desert-like" scarcity of English-speaking experts to newsrooms that offer no institutional support, this analysis explores how linguistic inequality hollows out the journalistic process, leaving vital stories untold and the promise of a bilingual nation unfulfilled.

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.