Le Messager, one of Cameroon’s oldest private newspapers, will clock 35 on November 17. The paper founded by ace journalist of blessed memory, Pius N. Njawé on November 17, 1979, will celebrate 35 years of fidelity and credibility from November 10 to November 14 in Bafoussam, Douala and Yaounde.

According to Le Messager’s Director of Publication, Fréderic Boungou, the 35th anniversary is worth celebrating because the organ has stood the test of time. “Some press organs saw the light of day and crumble immediately due to one reason or the other,” he poised.

The newspaper, he said played a major role in press freedom and Human Rights defence in Cameroon. Celebrating its 35 years of existence is also a way to pay homage to the founder Pius N. Njawé whose death in 2010 is still heartbreaking to pressmen and Le Messager’s family in particular.

Le Messager that started as a monthly paper, through weekly to daily in 2004, is still faced with challenges like grabbing mouth watering publicity and the low sales of paper, blamed on the rapid Internet evolution that permits cheap access to information online.

The celebration of the newspaper will be marked by football matches, medal award, presentation of new website during gala night, and most especially, the production of a special magazine of 68 pages and 5,000 copies that carefully outlines Le Messager’s journey till date.