More than 40 journalists in Burkina Faso have undergone a mandatory military-style patriotism training program ordered by the country’s authoritarian ruling junta.
Burkina Faso has faced years of deadly violence from jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Since seizing power in a 2022 coup, Captain Ibrahim Traore has spearheaded anti-Western, domestically focused policies aimed at reclaiming national sovereignty. Under his administration, both public and private media outlets must now participate in an annual patriotic immersion, a requirement similar to one imposed on high school graduates sitting for final exams since last year.
The government-organized program ran for six days at a police academy near Ouagadougou, involving 44 male and female journalists. In a video released by public television network RTB, Communication Minister and government spokesman Pingdwende Gilbert Ouedraogo addressed a group of journalists dressed in military uniforms and carrying rifles.
“Are you going to be patriotic and professional journalists?” Ouedraogo asked the group.
“Affirmative,” the journalists responded in unison while standing at attention.
“A professional journalist who is not a patriot is a threat to their country,” Ouedraogo told them.
The mandatory program has drawn sharp criticism from press freedom advocates. Reporters Without Borders sub-Saharan Africa bureau director Sadibou Marong voiced grave concerns over the move.
“This initiative is a new, very worrying signal for press freedom,” Marong told AFP. “Journalists are not soldiers and must not be turned into mouthpieces for the war effort, dressed in military uniforms and with weapons in their hands.”
Rights groups note that the Traore regime has previously suspended multiple news outlets and forcibly conscripted dozens of critical journalists to send them to the frontlines of the conflict.
