Authorities in Burkina Faso on Monday suspended Voice of America for three months over comments made by one of the network's journalists.
The junta also temporarily banned local news outlets from using any international media reports, the reports said.
Burkina Faso's superior council for communication, also known as CSC, accused VOA of demoralizing troops in Burkina Faso and nearby Mali in a broadcast on Sept. 19, according to media reports. The interview was later aired by a privately owned local radio station, according to Reuters.
In an emailed statement, VOA spokesperson Nigel Gibbs said VOA has shut down its FM transmitter in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou as a result of the suspension. “But, while VOA respects the regulatory framework within Burkina Faso, we do not agree with what we believe are incorrect assertions made by the CSC,” Gibbs said.
The CSC communique ordering VOA’s suspension, issued Monday, said that comments made in the broadcast “are likely to minimize the efforts” made by the Sahel States Alliance “in the drive to reconquer national territory” from jihadists. The communique also said that a VOA journalist made comments that condoned terrorism, and that suspending VOA was necessary to “prevent the propagation of malicious insinuations” about insecurity in the region.
In VOA’s statement, Gibbs “denied the CSC’s contentions that statements made in our broadcast condoned or justified terrorism, or that our reporting aimed to demoralize the people and security of the Sahel States Alliance.”
The broadcast was “designed to inform and engage audiences on important security matters affecting the region,” Gibbs said. “Our goal was to approach the topic in a fair and impartial way. We are sorry that the CSC did not agree.”
In the communique that banned local news outlets from using any international media reports, the CSC said it noted the "dissemination of information of a malicious and biased nature" by national outlets using international media reports.
In the communique, which did not specifically mention VOA, the CSC said such reports tend to "insidiously apologize for terrorism."
The phone number listed online for the CSC was not working. VOA attempted to request comment via an online form on the CSC website, but it returned an error message.
VOA and its parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Burkina Faso's Foreign Ministry did not reply to VOA's email requesting comment for this story.
Earlier suspension
This is not be the first time VOA has been suspended in Burkina Faso.
Authorities suspended VOA and the BBC in April following the broadcast of news stories about a Human Rights Watch report accusing the Burkinabe army of abuses against civilian populations.
"VOA stands by its reporting about Burkina Faso and intends to continue to fully and fairly cover events in that country," VOA's then-acting director John Lippman said in a statement about the April suspension.
Military leaders in Burkina Faso seized power in a coup in September 2022. Since then, media watchdogs have documented a decline in media freedoms, with media outlets suspended and foreign correspondents expelled.
In 2021, Burkina Faso ranked 37 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media environment. This year, Burkina Faso ranked 86.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said this week’s suspension was part of a trend of outlets getting censored in Burkina Faso for discussing insecurity in the Sahel region.
“Instead of seeking to constrain the media available to people in their country, Burkinabe authorities should focus on finding missing journalists Serge Atiana Oulon, Adama Bayala, Kalifara Sere, and Alain Traore,” Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, said in a statement, referring to journalists missing in Burkina Faso.
“The Burkinabe authorities must immediately lift the suspension of Voice of America and allow local media to work with international outlets without interference,” Quintal added.
