Twenty-four years down the lane, Ngah’s incredible hard work, innovativeness and overall dynamism has enabled the newspaper to rapidly walk its way to the top of the pinnacle of the media business in the Central African subregion.
Since the introduction and subsequent popularization of social media, the traditional media has seemingly been under endless threat and distress. Print and audiovisual news networks continue battling on a daily basis in strenuous effort to remain relevant. Globally, the demand for newspapers, for instance, has drastically plummeted. Viewership or listenership rates have also dropped for audiovisual media. So too has the placement of advertisements and other elements that formerly served as steady sources of income for the traditional media.
These financial challenges have come to further disrupt a profession that had for decades, even before the introduction of the internet, served as one of the riskiest and sometimes, least profitable professional milieus, notably forcing some established institutions to cease operation. Despite these difficulties, one man in Cameroon is not only excelling in the bid to change the narrative but has also established himself as the nation’s modern-day trailblazer in the journalism ecosystem. Meet Kristian Ngah Christian.
A man who is cherished by many, haunted by some and read by them all. Kristian Ngah Christian is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian Post, a media institution he founded and has now transformed into one of the most revered news networks on the African continent.
Iconic journalism trailblazer
Kristian Ngah Christian began his journey in the journalism milieu as a passionate young journalist in 1995. After joining the circle, he quickly went through the ranks of the now defunct The Herald newspaper, state-owned news institutions, the Cameroon radio television, Crtv and Cameroon Tribune, between 1995 and 2001 when he created The Guardian Post newspaper. Twenty-four years down the lane, Ngah’s incredible hard work, innovativeness and overall dynamism has enabled the newspaper to rapidly walk its way to the top of the pinnacle of the journalism profession in the Central African subregion.
From a weekly newspaper when it first hit the newsstands on August 30, 2001, the paper is now a complete daily newspaper. The newspaper publishes seven times a week, the lone newspaper with such an incredible frequency of publishing in the subregion and one of very few on the continent. Ngah’s The Guardian Post began publishing as a biweekly and later transitioned into publishing as a triweekly just briefly after its launch. Fast forward to nine years ago, in 2016, the news institution began publishing five times a week, becoming the lone and first ever English language newspaper to attain that feat in the Cameroonian media ecosystem.
The institution made the change after the Ngah-led body acquired its personal printing press, feat that went down as yet another major achievement in the Cameroonian media landscape as the newspaper by that ride, enjoyed the status of being one of a very limited number of newspapers that boost of owning personal printing press. The Guardian Post became a full weekly in January 2022 when it launched a Saturday edition that is dedicated exclusively to sports.
Launched when the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations was only flagging off in Cameroon, the specialized sports paper has easily become one of the most well-known print media publications across Cameroon and beyond. It is adored by both the young and old for its cutting-edge, expert treatment of sports issues, a field that had before then, remained mainly unexploited by the print media in Cameroon. Before the sports edition, Ngah’s hunger and quest to cement The Guardian Post’s position as the go-to publication in the news industry in Cameroon and Central Africa, had led him to creating a Sunday edition. Created in February 2021, a year before the sports edition, the Sunday edition became an instant hot cake in the market.
The edition’s innovative, colorful design and simplified reporting quickly resonated with the audience in a style that many have only compared to the level of success that the USA Today of the United States enjoyed when it hit the newsstands in the early 1980s. Besides the seven publications published by the newspaper on a weekly paper, Ngah’s ever-innovative machine of an institution also runs The Guardian Post Magazine, a quarterly magazine launched in November 2019. In 2020, the paper purchased another printing press to boost the already existing printing department in its bid to further upgrade the paper’s quality. Two years after the infrastructural upgrading, the newspaper in March 2022, began printing in color in what it describes as a fulfillment of “its unflinching zeal to better serve its readers and advertisers”.
Building Cameroon’s Newspaper of record
Thanks to the brilliant leadership and innovativeness, The Guardian Post has earned the appellation “The Newspaper of Record” in and outside the media circles. With a digital subscription of over 13 thousand, The Guardian Post is celebrated for being one of Cameroon’s most read newspapers. Several national and international institutions are also subscribed to the newspaper’s printed versions including the Prime Ministry. These records, coupled with the paper’s frequency in the market, has left many adoring the paper for its endless ride towards bagging dozens and dozens of records.
Redefining dynamic leadership in media landscape
Ngah’s status as an iconic trailblazer cannot only be defined by what he has been able to achieve in terms of ensuring the consistent growth of The Guardian Post news institution. He is celebrated for his leadership style both internally at the level of The Guardian Post and by other colleagues in the wider journalism circle for his efforts in laying grounds for the overall betterment of the profession. At The Guardian Post, Ngah enjoys a staff strength of over 48 that enjoy a steady stream of salaries and stipends, per sources. That is a record that remains a major feat in the private media sector in Cameroon.
The man whose institution also prides itself as one of the very few Cameroonian private news organs that own befitting head offices, is also renowned and respected for the beautiful relationship that he has with other colleagues. Both young and old. That beautiful relationship, many say, is the reason why he is an active part of several journalism associations notably the association of Cameroonian English language newspaper publishers’, CENPA, where he is the president. Through these platforms, Ngah advocates for the better treatment of journalists in Cameroon.
He also urges his colleagues in the circles to embrace befitting development-oriented practices that can enable the journalism professionals to also take their destinies in their very own hands by adopting good behavioral patterns. Those efforts add to multiple individual initiatives that he has championed at the level of The Guardian Post where he has molded dozens and dozens of now flourishing journalism professionals. Outside the immediate journalism circle, Ngah has an excellent relationship with multiple state institutions including the Ministry of Communications and the National Communications Council.
