By Kini Nsom
CRTV's senior reporter and communication consultant, Fai Collins, says
Internet forums that constitute an emerging public sphere, will soon
overshadow the traditional media; radio, television and newspapers.
Fai made this assertion in a dissertation he presented last week while defending an MSc in Communication at the Advanced School of Mass Communication in Yaounde. The journalist hinged his thesis on the study of The Post online, the Banso forum known as Shundzev, the SCNC Ambassos and the Government High School Nkambe Forum.
He argued that Internet forums are enriching and are also replacing traditional media because they sustain interactive debate. To him, the Internet forums have automatic feedback and enable people to enjoy all the trappings of horizontal communication.
He said anybody who has access to the Internet gains access to a wide variety of information without any gate-keeping. He said the Internet will in a long run conquer the traditional media.
According to Fai, what is blocking access to the Internet is the digital divide that makes it impossible for people in enclaved rural areas to have access to it. He said government was trying to solve the problem by opening community cyber centres.
He said the Internet remains a laudable medium because it is not space- focused. He said even though it is not fully developed in Cameroon, it is quite emerging and remains a foremost forum for socio-economic, cultural and political debate.
The journalist defended his thesis before a jury made up of Prof. David Simo as Chair, Prof. Laurent Charles Boyomo Assale and Prof. Paul-Celestin Ndembiyembie.Prof. Simo lauded Fai's thesis as a landmark research work. The jury awarded Fai 15 on 20. Fai also defended a similar thesis on anthropology of development on pygmies last year.
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