Burkina Faso - Media



Radio, telephone and telegraph services are available to Paris and to the neighboring countries. In 2000 there were about 53,200 main line telephones in use, most of them in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. There were also about 25,200 cellular phones in use the same year.

Two radio stations, one in Ouagadougou and one in Bobo-Dioulasso, are run by Radiodiffusion Nationale, the government radio corporation. Broadcasts are in French and 13 indigenous languages. As of 2002, there were a total of 3 AM and 17 FM radio stations. In 2000 there were 35 radios and 12 television sets for every 1,000 people. Télévision Nationale du Burkina, the government-owned television transmitting station, was established in 1963. Transmissions are made six days a week and are received only in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. The government has been establishing public viewing centers. There is also one privately operated television station. Internet access is limited, with only four Internet service providers serving 10,000 users in 2001.

Burkina Faso had seven daily newspapers in 2002, all published in Ouagadougou. L'Observateur Paalga and L'Observateur had the highest circulations (8,000 each). Other dailies included the Bulletin Quotidien D'Information (circulation 1,500), Le Pays (4,000), and Sidwaya (3,000).

Several published periodicals, all issued in Ouagadougou, include the Bulletin Economique et Social , (circulation 550) published by the Chamber of Commerce six times a year, and Carrefour Africain , (circulation unavailable) published monthly with government sponsorship. The press agency Agence d'Information du Burkina is based in Ouagadougou.

The 1990 Information Code provides for freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and it is said that these freedoms are in some degree circumscribed by self-censorship, as the government is sensitive to criticism.

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