Burkina Faso suspends another foreign news channel, over the ‘glorification of terrorism’

Burkina Faso has suspended the French TV channel TV5 Monde over the dissemination of false information and what the country described as embellishing terrorism.

• Burkina Faso suspended the French TV channel TV5 Monde for spreading false information and allegedly glorifying terrorism.
• The decision is linked to TV5 Monde's coverage of recent terrorist attacks in Mali, a fellow member of the anti-Western Alliance of the Sahel States.
• Burkina Faso accused the channel of multiple breaches of law and journalistic ethics regarding reporting on the fight against terrorism.
• This is not the first time Burkina Faso has suspended TV5 Monde or other foreign media outlets over similar allegations.

The country’s grievance with the French TV station stems from the coverage of the recent surge in terrorist attacks on its fellow junta-led state, Mali.

Both West African countries are two-thirds members of the Alliance of the Sahel States, a newly formed regional coalition with deep anti-West sentiments.

These two nations, alongside their final member, Niger, are no strangers to terrorist attacks, and Mali, in the last couple of weeks, has endured waves of extremely violent activities within its territory.

As a result, the country has been the center of immense media coverage, some of which may feel like a gross misrepresentation of the facts.

Burkina Faso articulated this precise justification regarding the recent suspension of TV5 Monde.

"The broadcasting of programs from the television channel TV5 Monde is prohibited in Burkina Faso, effective upon the signing of this decision," the country's Superior Council of Communication announced.

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According to a statement from council head Wendingoudi Louis Modeste Ouedraogo, the suspension came after "the observation of numerous breaches of the law, ethics and professional conduct in the handling of topics related to the fight against terrorism,” in Burkina and relating to attacks late last month in Mali, as seen in the news outlet Le Monde.

“The offenses committed, which involve disinformation and the glorification of terrorism, were identified in several editions of the television news, from April to May 2026," he added.

TV5 Monde, alongside other foreign news platforms, has encountered comparable regulatory actions in recent years.

Burkina Faso’s suspension of media platforms in recent years

TV5 Monde was subject to two separate suspensions in April and June of 2024.

In April, 2024, TV5 Monde was suspended alongside the websites of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Ouest-France, British newspaper The Guardian, African agencies APA and Ecofin due to their coverage of a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report alleging the army's involvement in extrajudicial killings.

This came after the suspension of BBC Africa and the U.S.-funded Voice of America for their reporting on the HRW investigation, which claimed that the Burkinabe military executed about 223 villagers in February of the same year.

By October of 2024, Burkina Faso's military junta also suspended U.S.-funded news organisation Voice of America (VOA) for three months.