Scores 2000 was the first newspaper in Nkongsamba (Department of Moungo, Southwest of Cameroon) when it was launched in 1997. It has enjoyed great success, in particular after it changed to tabloid format in 2002. Today, competition from new titles has restrained the growth of the paper.

To stay on top of the market, the newspaper has tried to expand its reach throughout the country. “Media in Cameroon should be national in order to reach enough readers,” says Sylvain Timamo, publisher of Scores 2000.

The paper has increased its network of correspondents by hiring freelancers in the major cities of the country. “This provides us with more news, which makes the newspaper more attractive. Twenty percent of our sales currently comes from regions other than Moungo,” he says.

Nevertheless, Scores 2000 has not abandoned its regional character. On the contrary, it continues to be a sales argument. “We stress the fact that we are the only ones to cover specific communities. This was not something we aimed to do when we started out, as we wanted to focus on analysis. But the editorial board proposed that we cover community events, which proved a good idea to boost sales,” Timamo says.

He mentions the case of a single person who once bought a hundred copies of the paper to be distributed in his village after it had been featured in the newspaper.

When the newspaper was launched, it was the only one in Nkongsamba, while it today competes with seven other titles. Credibility is one of the main advantages of Scores 2000 in the competition.

“We have gained credibility by focusing on facts and analysis. Being the first newspaper in the region has allowed us to develop a good network. We are better positioned than others to investigate and are always the first on the ground,” says Timamo.

The proliferation of new titles is a threat to the quality of journalism, since there are not enough journalists for the increasing number of publications.

“New publications hire mostly students or specialists. This is an issue since it affects the quality of reporting. The problem is that they do not respect codes of ethics: they are not accurate in their reporting nor do they check sources,” Timamo says.

“These new publications also reproduce articles published by Scores 2000, thus misleading the reader about the original source,” says Timamo. This influences sales of the publication.

To maintain circulation figures, the newspaper has also tried to increase the number of subscribers. Its strategy has not, however, been very successful. “Since Cameroonian purchasing power is low, readers do not want to sign up to one-year subscriptions but prefer to chose which newspaper to buy each time they go to the newsstand,” says Timamo.

The newspapers in the region are not only competing for the readers. Although representing 60 percent of overall revenues, this figure has been decreasing in recent years because of the arrivals on the market, some of which are published sporadically with the sole aim to get money from advertising. Timamo and other independent publishers are trying to fight what they see as unfair competition.

“Some newspapers just appear a couple of times, do not pay taxes and, in addition to that, get a lot of advertising because they know certain businessmen or are linked to the sales managers of certain companies,” he says.

Independent publishers have united to overcome this situation. They are lobbying authorities to distribute advertising among those newspapers that appear regularly and are properly registered.

They also lobby for lower tax rates for newspapers. “Newspapers are also educational tools,” says Timamo. “Therefore, they should be treated differently than commercial enterprises. Until now, we have paid the same taxes as they do, which does not help to develop the newspaper industry. However, since independent newspapers dare to criticize the government, it uses taxes as a way of undermining our position,” Timamo says. “We have understood that the government’s policy is to not cooperate with us, because they do not want a free press,” he says.