Yves BIGOT, who was accompanied by the Cameroonian born Director of Distribution, Marketing, and Commercialization of the media group Denise EPOTE, was keen on travelling to Yaounde in order to formally and officially apologise on behalf of his organisation to the media regulator, government and the Cameroonian population following the indiscretion that occurred on 23 January 2024.

On the said day during the news magazine “64’ Le monde en français”, Cameroon was represented with an erroneous flag with colours that are a stark contrast to the usual Green, Red, and Yellow. This act caused a great stir among the Cameroonian population. Especially given that the colours used to represent Cameroon seemed to advocate for some separatist groups operating within the North West and South West crisis.

The President of the NCC, who was informed of these developments by the media monitoring services of the NCC, instantly issued a press release denouncing the incident and sent a request for explanations to the management of the television channel concerned.

Yves BIGOT requested an audience at the NCC and availed himself of this opportunity to verbally express what he had already stated in his response to the request for explanations, that there was no malicious intent involved when this indiscretion occurred. In fact, another country was also victim to the same mistake during the same programme.

Additionally, he affirmed that he understood the general indignation felt by Cameroonians, which was the reason for his visit to Yaounde in order to apologise to Cameroonian authorities.

Subsequently, the CEO of TV5 Monde stated that his associate Denise EPOTE was in no way connected to the misconduct committed within the Information Department. In this light, he pleaded with Cameroonians to stop the ongoing bashing that she has been experiencing on social media.

Yves BIGOT concluded his apology by presenting to the President of the NCC, measures taken within his company to restructure the production of information before broadcasts. He stated that this restructuring will avert any such indiscretions from occurring in the future.

Meanwhile, the President of the NCC appreciated the efforts made by TV5 Monde as an act of good faith. The prompt response to the NCC’s request for explanations will certainly have a mitigating impact when the Members of the Council will sit to examine this case.  Though it is not possible to take away the freedom of Cameroonians to feel offended, the media regulator admonished media professionals to be more vigilant during the news broadcasts.

The meeting ended with the TV5 Monde delegation been reassured that Denise EPOTE could now rest easy concerning the attacks faced by the Cameroonian journalist on social media, because, after all the explanations that were given, it goes without saying that this bashing will come to an end. A group picture marked the end of this fruitful audience at the NCC.