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Alert

Media regulatory body suspends television station

(MFWA/IFEX) - On October 26, 2009, Burkina Faso's media regulatory body, the Supreme Council for Communication (CSC), directed the management of the privately-owned Ouagadougou-based television station TVZ Africa to suspend transmission for technical reasons.

According to the CSC, the reasons for the suspension were that the station had no clear programming schedule, no process for filtering messages that appear on-screen and no picture charts.

In a rebuttal, Mustapha Thiombiano, the station's manager, rejected the CSC's arguments, calling the suspension "a death sentence to press freedom in Burkina Faso."

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)'s correspondent reported that despite the suspension, the CSC lifted the order to allow the station to cover the devastating effects of the torrential rains that hit the country recently.

MFWA condemns the arbitrary action of the CSC and calls for the immediate lifting of the ban.