The Representation of the Cameroon Anglophone Crisis in BBC World Service Africa and CRTV News: A Comparative Framing Analysis

Abstract: The Cameroon Anglophone crisis, which erupted in late 2016 and escalated into an armed conflict by 2017, represents one of the most consequential political and humanitarian events in the country’s post-independence history. This article examines how two broadcasters with fundamentally different institutional mandates, British Broadcasting Corperation (BBC) World Service Africa and Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV), framed the crisis between 2016 and 2022. Drawing on Entman’s (1993) four-function model of framing as its primary analytical lens, and situating the analysis within broader debates on state media, international broadcasting and postcolonial representation, the study identifies systematic differences in how each outlet defined the problem, attributed causality, applied moral evaluation and proposed remedies. On the one hand, BBC World Service Africa coverage characteristically foregrounded humanitarian concerns, minority rights and government use of force. On the other hand, CRTV consistently framed the crisis as a security threat managed by a sovereign state protecting its territorial integrity. The article argues that these divergent frames are not simply the product of editorial bias but reflect deep structural differences in ownership, funding, audience orientation and the political economy of each broadcaster. The analysis contributes to scholarship on conflict reporting, African media systems and the global politics of news framing.