On January 23, 2023, the Prime Minister’s Communication and Public Relations Department published on the institution’s Facebook page the report of an audience that the master of the premises, Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambéla, granted to the President of the Superior Council of Communication (CSC), accompanied by members of the college of advisers. From this report, it emerges from the remarks attributed to the Prime Minister and which arouse concerns and misunderstandings of the actors and professional organizations of the media that we are. Indeed, we can read this: “We do not build anything without discipline. It is more than necessary to reframe communication at the media level to avoid chaos. We always remember Radio Mille Collines in Rwanda, which played a decisive role in the genocide in that country. Just because you’re on a television set or in a studio with a microphone doesn’t mean you have to think you’re allowed to do anything”.
This exit by the Prime Minister comes after a series of acts denounced by professional media organizations, aimed in particular at muzzling the press since the return of military powers on January 24, 2022. These remarks attributed to the Prime Minister also come at a time when individuals claiming to be supporters of the President of the Transition, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, are calling for the murder of journalists and attacks on press organs. It intervenes above all in a context where small groups in the process of radicalization are multiplying acts of defiance of the Republic and of progressive questioning of the historical, sociological and republican foundations, which have up to now kept the Burkina edifice upright, and this despite the repetitive waves of whirlwinds that threaten to overwhelm.
According to the report that was made of this meeting, the Prime Minister insinuates that there is a mess in the media and makes a dangerous allusion to Radio mille collines du Rwanda, thereby inviting the CSC to put it in order.
This approach is obviously contrary to the spirit of independence of the CSC, which must not receive any injunction from the government or from any other structure or power, in its regulatory mission.
This outing by the Prime Minister throws our media into turmoil, especially in a national context where “25th-hour patriots” are emerging, let’s say, followers of a single thought, who do not hesitate to treat all those who do not marry their conception and their politico-religious and societal “new order”, “of stateless persons or enemies of the Transition who must either be physically eliminated, expatriated or even thrown in prison”.
These “inquisitors” of modern times even arrogate to themselves the right and the power to choose the “good journalists”, the “patriotic media” and the “suppot media of France to be closed”. Others go further, treating professional media organizations as “terrorist groups”, “to be decolonised”.
Our Prime Minister, without perhaps knowing it, thus brings water to the mill of these new “revolutionaries”, believing themselves to have come out of the thigh of Jupiter and who have taken on the messianic mission of freeing Burkina “from the intellectuals stateless persons and dogs of France”. It gives these “super citizens” who, in the name of their freedom of expression, arrogate all their rights, including the right to choose those who deserve to live or not, additional reasons to continue in their mistakes.
Until then, and faced with our denunciations, the government has contented itself with timid press releases, paying lip service to these threats to press freedom, human rights and the safety of media professionals, as well as media organizations and companies. But this release of the one who until recently scoured our television sets, gives us additional reasons to worry.
In view of the seriousness of this situation, it seemed imperative to the media players that we are, to ring the alarm bell and challenge the authorities of the Transition, starting with the Head of State, his Prime minister and his government as well as the Transitional legislative power, on the serious risks of attacks on the freedom of the press and especially on the safety of the men and women of the media in our country.
The fight against terrorism can in no way be a pretext to put the independent press under control. Especially since the beginning of this unjust war imposed on Burkina Faso and other countries in the sub-region, the Burkinabè media have globally assumed their social responsibility, by positioning themselves at various levels, as artisans of construction of peace, the formation of public opinions concerned with the preservation of the climate and social cohesion and communion between communities.
Aware of this social responsibility, the Burkinabè media, through editorials and various content, participate in psychological and sociological disarmament, in the promotion of peaceful living together throughout the national territory. Despite the modesty of their resources, our media work with rigor and professionalism to denounce bad governance and to constitute relays for the action of our rulers as well as spokespersons for our people.
The Burkinabè media have never been and will never be an obstacle to the fight against terrorism. Whenever the country calls them, they have always responded with honor and dedication. Far be it from us to claim that everything is perfect! But the faults or shortcomings (proven or felt as such) of a few actors must not authorize our authorities to throw all the media and their actors into public condemnation.
In this war, everyone knows where the real responsibilities of the tragedy that the Burkinabè are living are. And it is certainly not at the level of the media that they should be sought. Above all, we must avoid making the media the scapegoats in this tragedy that the country is going through. Rather, we believe that we are part of the solution, and we see our responsibility and commitment as such.
Media players would like, through this joint editorial, to reaffirm their unfailing support for the Defense and Security Forces (FDS), the volunteers for the defense of the homeland (VDP), the authorities of the Transition and all the Burkinabè committed in one way or another in this fight for the restoration of the dignity of the people of Burkina Faso and the integrity of the national territory. They salute the contributions of Burkina Faso’s partners who provide their sincere support to our people in these times of great uncertainty.
Media players want to reaffirm their attachment to professionalism and independence as the lifeblood of our profession.
This is why we raise strong protests across these lines against this dangerous escalation to which we are increasingly exposed. There is certainly an urgent need to build national unity together around the major challenge of the moment, that of preserving the rule of law and democratic living together, guaranteeing and protecting freedoms in the face of abuses, wherever they come from. .
Media players appeal to the government to create the conditions allowing the professional media to continue to fulfill the role of public information service without, however, compromising the actions of the defense and security forces or violating the ethical principles and ethics of information professions.
They call on the authorities to pull themselves together and focus on the essentials of the Transition’s missions contained in the charter which gives them the legitimacy or the legality to lead this country.
They will hold them responsible for all attacks on the physical integrity of media professionals and on the security of the premises of press companies as well as the homes and other private properties of media players.
Finally, they take national and international opinion to bear witness to the serious threats hanging over the press in Burkina Faso and the need not to break this bulwark so dear to democracy and the rule of law.
For a professional, free and responsible press in the service of social cohesion, peace, development, let’s stay the course and remain upright and faithful to our priesthood of informing true, fair and useful, of training and educating!
Professional Media Organizations in Burkina Faso