Guinea bans France 24 TV outlet from broadcasting

Guinea’s media regulator banned French media outlet France 24 from broadcasting in the country Thursday, following comments it said were against the president.

The west African nation is ruled with an iron fist by President Mamady Doumbouya, and dissenting voices have been reduced to a bare minimum.

In a statement, the country’s High Authority for Communication (HAC) cited the TV channel’s “remarks deemed to undermine the dignity of the head of state, Mamady Doumbouya”.

On Wednesday, the HAC issued a formal warning to France 24 for having “used an inappropriate term to refer to the head of state”.

During a September 14 broadcast, a presenter had described Doumbouya as a “putschist president”.

France 24 told AFP Wednesday that it intended to apologise and correct any offense.

Below the video with the remarks, a statement now reads that Doumbuya was “mistakenly labelled a putschist president”.

The HAC also on Wednesday withdrew a press accreditation from the correspondent of the French-language Jeune Afrique news magazine, accusing the reporter of “professional misconduct” without further explanation.

Doumbouya came to power in a coup in 2021 before being elected president in December 2025 in a vote featuring no significant opposition.

Since his rise, political parties have been dissolved, protests banned and numerous people expressing dissent have been arrested, convicted, forced into exile or have gone missing.

In recent years, access to the internet and social media has been restricted on several occasions.

France 24 has previously been banned in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, junta-run Sahel neighbours that have cut ties with former colonial ruler France and pivoted to an alliance with Russia.

The station is also not broadcast in Togo, where it was suspended for three months in 2025 and has not been reinstated.

AFP

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