From Yaounde, the capital of Cameroun, CEOAFRICA.com received report that government has clamped down heavily on some media outfits in the country by shutting them down for what was described as disrespect to ethics and professional norms of the media.

The report indicated that National Communications Council approved the closure of seven newspapers, a television and three radio stations, couple with the suspension of a journalist and two publishers.

While speaking regarding the ban, publisher of the Guardian Post, one of the suspended newspapers, described the act as anti-freedom of the media.

“I mean, I look at it as some kind of repression," he said. "It is understood that the Guardian Post is too critical of government action, and then coming at a time when we are preparing for elections, I have to just conclude that it is a way of stopping us from exposing a well-planned government rigging machinery," said Ngah.

He said government did not give prior warning demanded by the constitution before taking that action

Meanwhile, contrary to the above allegation, some journalists said the Communications Council had called on media practitioners to be more professional, but the calls were largely ignored.

Simon Lyonga, president of the Yaounde chapter of the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists, said that many of those working in Cameroon's media industry were, in his word, quacks.

“We are in a profession where anybody comes in; they usually do not know the ethics of the profession and so go against it.  So I think if somebody is sanctioned for not respecting the ethics of the profession, to me [that] is not press censorship,” said Lyonga.

The suspension order said that except for one radio station, the media outlets may be re-opened next month - after the September 30 elections.