SOPECAM opens up to the public

On the sidelines of celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of Cameroon Tribune, the Cameroon editing and publishing company, SOPECAM is organising open door days to present the products of the company to the public.

According to the chief of service for marketing and communication, Emameda Gustave, the objective of the open door days is to present the different products of the house as well as the evolution in the editorial offer and quality of production.

He disclosed that from the onset in 1974, there was only one product, Cameroon Tribune but today we have a modified version of the newspaper as well as new products like Nyanga, Weekend, Alter Eco, and C. T. Analyse. Besides presenting the various products of the house, animators of the open door days also offer gadgets, brochures, catalogues and some special issues of the newspaper.

In order to achieve optimum results, the marketing team has been reinforced by eight interns from some university institutions.

The open door days which began yesterday, will end on the final day of the anniversary celebrations on Thursday, July 24. Each day, there is a special theme for the activity. On the first day yesterday, the theme was on “Sopecam, a privileged partner in the training of students”.

Today the theme will focus on “Publishers of newspapers: production tools for a quality newspaper” and on the third and last day of the exhibition the theme will be “Sopecam; a partner for sustainable development”.

Alongside the open door days is a photo exhibition revisiting the history of Cameroon Tribune with the various changes in editorial offer and production quality of the paper depicted. The pictures demonstrate Cameroon in two versions; English and French and then as a bilingual newspaper in French and English depicting the bicultural statutes of Cameroon.

The paper has evolved over the years but the editorial policy has not changed, says Theodore Ndze, the Yaounde bureau chief for The Star Newspaper after visiting the Sopecam stand. “Articles are predominantly in French.

The paper should either be truly bilingual or return to the former option of two separate editions in English and French. More so, the paper should cease from a government service newspaper to a public service newspaper,” he said.

This view was corroborated by another visitor to the stand, Ndi Eugene, reporter with News Watch newspaper who however recognises that the quality of the paper has improved over the past 40 years, moving from black and white to a semi coloured newspaper; he suggest the newspaper should be published entirely in colour and the number of pages should be increased so as to create enough space for articles in both official languages.

He also said the anniversary celebrations of the newspaper should not be limited only to Yaounde but also to the Regions so as to inform all Cameroonians about the activities of the newspaper and company.