Niger\u2019s military government has banned many local and foreign reporters since seizing power in 2023.<\/p>\n
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned Niger\u2019s suspension of nine French media publications as the military government continues to crack down on journalists.<\/p>\n
Niger announced the suspension on Friday, citing \u201crepeated dissemination of content likely to seriously jeopardise public order, national unity, social cohesion, and the stability of the institutions of the Republic\u201d.<\/p>\n
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The suspended organisations are France 24, RFI (Radio France Internationale), France Afrique Media, LSI Africa, AFP (Agence France-Presse), TV5 Monde, TF1 Info, Jeune Afrique and Mediapart, according to a TV statement from the National Communication Observatory (ONC).<\/p>\n
It added that the decision was \u201cimmediate\u201d and it included \u201csatellite packages, cable networks, digital platforms, websites and mobile applications\u201d.<\/p>\n
RSF described the decision as \u201cabusive\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cRSF condemns a coordinated strategy to repress press freedom within the AES [Alliance of Sahel States] and calls for the immediate reversal of this abusive decision,\u201d said a statement posted on X, referring to Niger and allies Mali and Burkina Faso, all ruled by military governments.<\/p>\n
Niger\u2019s military seized power in July 2023, toppling the democratically elected government of President Mohamed Bazoum and detaining him.<\/p>\n
The government has since targeted local and foreign media outlets, particularly those critical of its policies, by issuing bans or suspensions.<\/p>\n
RFI and France 24 were suspended a few days after the coup, and the BBC from Britain was suspended in December 2024.<\/p>\n
The targeting of French and other foreign media comes as Niger\u2019s military government has largely severed ties with its former colonial power, France, and turned away from Western allies.<\/p>\n
In late 2023, Niger asked leaders in Paris to withdraw thousands of troops involved in missions against armed groups operating in Niger, neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n
The three AES states have since secured defence partnerships with other countries, notably Russia.<\/p>\n
All three have regularly denounced France\u2019s \u201cimperialism\u201d, saying they want to assert their \u201csovereignty\u201d. French media and other foreign outlets have similarly been suspended or banned by the governments in Bamako and Ouagadougou.<\/p>\n
Local journalists have also been affected. Two Nigerien journalists, Gazali Abdou, a correspondent for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and Hassane Zada, a regional newspaper editor, were released this week after being detained for months.<\/p>\n
In 2024, leaders in the capital Niamey strengthened a law that criminalises the digital dissemination of \u201cdata likely to disturb public order\u201d.<\/p>\n
The United Nations said in November that 13 journalists were arrested in Niger and urged the government to release them. Local media organisations say six journalists are detained for allegedly \u201cundermining national defence\u201d and for \u201cconspiracy against the authority of the state\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to AFP, Niger suspended nearly 3,000 local and foreign NGOs in 2025, accusing them of lacking transparency and supporting \u201cterrorists\u201d and armed groups.<\/p>\n
Niger dropped 37 places in this year\u2019s RSF World Press Freedom Index and now ranks 120th out of 180 countries. RSF and Amnesty International have repeatedly voiced concerns about the \u201cdecline\u201d in press freedom in Niger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Niger\u2019s military government has banned many local and foreign reporters since seizing power in 2023. Media watchdog Reporters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[493,9566,9740,73,5,6256,923,7844,987,6,3231,346],"class_list":{"0":"post-13037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-burkina-faso","10":"tag-censorship","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-france","13":"tag-freedom-of-the-press","14":"tag-human-rights","15":"tag-mali","16":"tag-media","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-niger","19":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}