u Writer struggles for free press
By SARAH RYKOWSKI
Saint Mary's News Editor
Angel Tabe's visit to Saint Mary's campus served as a grim reminder that democracy has not spread to the entire world. Tabe, a former journalist and news anchor in her native Camaroon, visits Saint Mary's this week as part of an effort to educate American students about African customs and the tenuous political situation in the country.
"The situation in my country is one in which there isn't freedom of expression," Tabe said.
Tabe was fired from her job as deputy head of programs at the national radio station run by the Camaroon Radio and Television Corporation in 1994 for events that transpired two years earlier.
In 1992, Tabe attended a press conference given by Camaroon's Minister of Information and Culture. The presidential elections occurring at the time were a significant source of controversy and discord, with accusations of misbehavior flying left and right.
When it was Tabe's turn to question the minister, she asked why he did not show the videos of the alleged burnings and killings that were the source of the controversy and interview the political leader whose house and car were purported to have been burned. This suggestion did not sit well with the minister and his allies were not receptive to her suggestion. Tabe was relieved of her title and duties the next day and fired in 1994.
"After the political problems, I could no longer work," Tabe said. "I was invited to a seminar on media and environment."
After she attended the conference, Tabe turned to media consulting "to sensitize the public to environmental degradation."
"I had a weekly publication called `The Green Pages,'" said Tabe who won the Journalist of the Year award in Camaroon in 1997.
That year, Tabe learned about the Humphrey Fellowship Program. She applied and was accepted on the basis of her environmental and journalistic accomplishments.
"I got selected because of `The Green Pages' and the award, by showing the experiences of the role of the media in environmental protection," Tabe said.
While at her previous job, Tabe covered events on environmental issues as well as others, worked out of the newsroom, given the Sunday evening news, been a radio announcer and worked at the foreign news desk. Her crowning achievement while at the corporation was the development of the "Luncheon Date" show, where she reviewed the events of the day from around the country.
"It was a program everybody looked up to," Tabe said. "It was the only avenue for people to hear the news from all over the country in two to three hours."
Now, Tabe has a slightly different vocation. A full-time graduate student at the University of Maryland, she intends to educate the masses on environmental policy, wealth, and development.
"I want to put what I have studied into practice," Tabe said. "I want to share it with many people. I want to use my media skills to sensitize people about conservation issues. It could be on radio, television, print or the internet. I'm going to use all the media avenues."
In the summer after classes end she will begin an internship with the World Bank.
"Part of the [fellowship] is that you work in a U.S. organization which enhances your skills," Tabe said.
In the meantime, between her studies, Tabe travels the country, educating Americans about her culture.
"I travel a lot," Tabe said. "I don't refuse invitations because they are opportunities to share."
All News Stories for Thursday, April 13, 2000
