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Burkina Faso’s military government has suspended the popular radio station Radio Omega for three months after it referred to the government as a “junta.”
The nation’s Higher Council for Communication (CSC) announced the suspension on Saturday, stating that the station’s broadcasting license has been revoked and it is prohibited from all broadcasts and online publishing.
The CSC’s decision followed an article posted on Radio Omega’s Facebook page on July 30, which was deemed to contain “malicious and discourteous remarks toward the Burkinabe authorities.”
The article, covering a protest in Ouagadougou, mentioned that “Ivory Coast is regularly accused by the Burkinabe junta of harbouring opponents and fomenting plots.”
The media regulatory authority explained that the term “Burkinabe junta” is “pejorative and insulting, suggesting contempt.” It concluded that such language was a “malicious insinuation” that “seriously offends the Burkinabe authorities.”
Radio Omega, a subsidiary of the Omega Medias group, issued a correction on Wednesday, blaming the article on an external “service provider” and removing the “inappropriate expressions.”
However, the CSC noted the station’s “persistent lack of rigour” and ordered it to issue a public apology to the authorities and its audience.
This is not the first time Radio Omega has faced suspension. In August 2023, the station was suspended for a month for broadcasting an interview with a spokesperson for a movement seeking to reinstate Niger’s overthrown president.
Since Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power in a 2022 coup, several media outlets, including France’s LCI, RFI, and France 24, have been suspended, and some local journalists have been forced into exile.
