Gambiaj.com – (WASHINGTON, United States) – 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 September 19, according to media reports. The interview was later aired by a privately owned local radio station, according to Reuters.

In the communiqué 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 communiqué, 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 a comment for this story.

Earlier suspension

This would 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.

VOA