L'Expression de Mamy-Wata explained
L'Expression de Mamy-Wata, often referred to as simply Mamy-Wata, is a weekly satirical newspaper published in Cameroon by the media company La Nouvelle Expression.[1] The paper is written in French peppered with loan words from Cameroonian Pidgin English.[2] In 1999, it had a weekly circulation of 4,000 copies.[1]
On 4 January 1999, Cameroonian Police confiscated 2,000 to 2,500 copies of Mamy-Wata in Douala.[3] La Nouvelle Expression reported that the papers were taken in response to a cartoon in the 29 December issue that depicted Cameroon's president, Paul Biya, in a spat with his wife.[1] Reports differ on whether the police ever provided an official justification for the seizure; the Committee to Protect Journalists reported that none was provided, but the International Press Institute reported that authorities claimed the newspapers were a "breach of public order". Scholar George Echu has claimed that the incident added Mamy-Wata to "the pantheon of Africa's satirical heavyweights."[4]
References
- "Africa 1999: Cameroon". Committee to Protect Journalists. Accessed 13 December 2007.
- "News: World Press Freedom Review: 1999 . Cameroon . International Press Institute . 13 December 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071024110924/http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/freedom_detail.html?country=%2FKW0001%2FKW0006%2FKW0145%2F&year=1999 . 24 October 2007 .
- Echu, George . 2003 . Influence of Cameroon Pidgin English on the Linguistic and Cultural Development of the French Language . Indiana University Linguistics Club Working Papers . . https://web.archive.org/web/20110818173844/https://www.indiana.edu/~iulcwp/pdfs/03-echu03.pdf . 18 August 2011 . dead .
- Eko, Lyombe (2003). "Hear All Evil, See All Evil, Rail against All Evil: Le Messager and the Journalism of Resistance in Cameroon", The Leadership Challenge in Africa: Cameroon under Paul Biya. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc. .
Notes and References
- CPJ.
- Echu 5.
- IPI says 2,000, but CPJ says 2,500.
- Eko 135.