Burkina Faso’s media regulator has imposed a two-week suspension on the programmes of BBC Afrique and Voice of America (VOA) for airing a Human Rights Watch report accusing the Burkinabè army of abuses against civilians.
Access to the websites and digital platforms of BBC, VOA, and Human Rights Watch is also suspended within Burkina Faso.
“Accordingly, the BBC and VOA, through their correspondents in Burkina Faso, were instructed by telephone to immediately stop rebroadcasting the offending programme on all their platforms," state-owned news agency Agence d’Information du Burkina (AIB) reported on Thursday.
The Superior Council for Communication (CSC) further warned all local media outlets against disseminating the article, threatening sanctions against violators of the directive.
VOA said in an article published on Friday that it "stands by its reporting about Burkina Faso and intends to continue to fully and fairly cover activities in the country".
HRW published a report on Thursday accusing the Burkina Faso military of executing at least 223 civilians on 25 February in the north of the country.
In December 2023, the West African nation suspended French daily Le Monde accusing it of biased reporting.
It also suspended three other international media outlets at varying times last year, including French-language magazine Jeune Afrique, French TV channel, channel La Chaîne Info (LCI) and French state-owned media organisation France24.
Source: BBC
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The west is at it again! Just what they did to justify the insane killings and destructions that happened in Iraq and Libya. At the height of their seeking their parochial and selfish interest aimed at laying hands on their resources resorted to false allegations of all kind to create the picture that the leaders of those nations were killing their own people and pursuing evil military adventures. The end result was that all these leaders were killed and the countries destroyed with no legitimate Governments in place, and now their resources are firmly in the hands of America and their cohorts. Their modus operandi is recruiting, inciting and financing selfish rogues in nations and when the leaders are dealing with such elements all kinds of self-serving concerns are raised in preparation to make them have a reason to attack and destroy them. 200 civilians killed in Burkina Fasso! One may ask, how many civilians has Israel killed in Gaza and other areas in Palestine?. The last count it was reported that over 30,000 civilians have been killed so far. How on earth couldn't America and the French with their military power not bring the activities of the terrorist to an end but are still very active there, if indeed they were there to stop terrorism in those areas? Now that the leaders of those nations have seen through their lies and deception and are asking them to leave so that they partner with those who could truly help them deal with the problems, they are at it with their corrupt media houses and practitioners to demonise them. I hope we Africans will this time round not allow these people to succeed in their evil and self-seeking agendas. we should rise to be counted and ensure that the new wave of assertiveness blowing on the Continent is sustained and gain momentum to lead to us gaining control of our lives. I will plead with our media houses and practitioners not propagate these kind of things to generate the attention their originators desire it to gain until it is confirmed by credible sources independent of the Western propagandist.