French news channels are well and truly in the sights of the Malian junta. After France 24 and Radio France Internationale (RFI), which had already been taken off the air, it is the French-language channel TV5 Monde that has been hit by a broadcast ban. More recently, France 2 was also suspended in early 2024, before LCI suffered the same fate at the end of August. A fresh blow to the independence of the press.
A context of muzzled information
The junta in power in Mali suspended, a few weeks ago and for three months, the broadcasting of the French-language channel TV5 Monde, which it claimed had lacked «balance» in its coverage of a news story, according to a decision reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday 11 September. A dispatch that remained rather discreet.
The High Authority for Communication (HAC) has criticised the news department for reporting, in its highly watched Africa news bulletin in Mali, the deaths of at least fifteen civilians in drone strikes in Tinzaouatène, in the north of the country, thereby ignoring the official version, specifically that of the Malian army.
As for channel management, « regrets this situation and in particular not having been referred to the HAC and not having been able to provide explanations regarding the facts alleged against it », she reacted in a press release, which was itself lost in the limbo of rolling news. The latter also stated that, by the time the report was broadcast on its airwaves, the Malian army had not yet given its version of events, despite several requests to that effect in accordance with the principle of fairness. Nevertheless, the ruling army's «version» was communicated by the channel in a brief dated 26 August.
Memory of geopolitical facts: the military junta in power, after having overthrown the elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in 2020, broke ties two years later with France and its European partners, thus turning militarily and politically towards Moscow.
TV5 Monde, an official operator of the OIF
Since then, France 24 and Radio France Internationale (RFI), both of which are widely followed in Mali, have been taken off the air. The French public service channel France 2 had also been suspended in early 2024, before LCI, which belongs to the private group TF1, met the same fate in late August.
Many correspondents for a number of foreign media outlets, mainly Western ones, have been forced to leave or remain silent.
On the domestic front, no better: in April the junta had also banned the media from covering the activities of political parties, which had provoked sharp reactions abroad and numerous comments on social media, although the opposition has largely been reduced to silence. In Burkina Faso and Niger, neighbours and allies of Mali, military officers also seized power by force, in 2022 and 2023. Here again, measures of muzzling and pressure have been initiated against the foreign press.
As a reminder, the television channel TV5 Monde, whose purpose is to promote Francophone culture and creation in all its forms, is the official operator of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). Its capital is shared by French public broadcasting companies (including France Télévisions), as well as Belgian, Swiss, Canadian and Québécois ones.
As for international, political, security and peace representative, diplomatic, freedom or even human rights institutions: complete radio silence.
French 
English 
Chinese 
Arabic