![]() ![]() The military said it intended to enlist 15,000 volunteers at the national level and another 35,000 at the community level. ![]() ![]() Last month, authorities announced that a recruitment campaign for volunteers attracted more than 90,000 people. “This media (RFI) … contributes to a desperate maneuver of the terrorist groups to dissuade thousands of Burkinabe” working to protect the country’s integrity, it added. The government has decided to “immediately suspend until further notice, the broadcasting of Radio France Internationale programs throughout the national territory,” the statement said. The accusation was in reference to a message broadcast by RFI on Saturday, in which the Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), or Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, an affiliate of the al-Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS terror groups, threatened civilian volunteers helping the government in anti-terrorism operations. It also demonstrates how RFI recognised the audience’s changing news consumption habits and was flexible and innovative enough to be able to build on it to expand their reach.Burkina Faso’s military government on Saturday announced it has suspended the broadcast of France’s Radio France Internationale (RFI) with immediate effect.Ī statement by government spokesman Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo accused the broadcaster of giving voice to “a message of intimidation to the population attributed to a terrorist leader.” Saka said they noticed “an increase in our consumption from Mali on new media, but we are careful, we must not endanger the listeners.”Īdapting to the needs of audiences with lower bandwidths demonstrates public media’s ability to increase accessibility in areas that would otherwise be harder to reach. When France 24 and RFI was suspended by Mali authorities earlier this year, Ms. It has also been proved to circumvent government attempts to block access to independent, public interest journalism. Saka admitted that there are still challenges that the RFI Afrique team are looking to solve, such as the time it takes to send messages across their list and add new subscribers, as well as not always being able to respond to everyone who shares their thoughts on the content.īut having a public media channel actively trying to share trusted news and information, and increase citizen participation, demonstrates an innovative use of the platform. But it has also been a major source for the spread of misinformation on the continent, such as during election campaigns and information about COVID-19. WhatsApp has been seen as a force for good in terms of connecting people efficiently and globally. The team will later send them a link to the broadcast in podcast format. ![]() “We have programs that have always used Whatsapp to interact with listeners, create interactivity and get their opinions on important topics.” On other threads, RFI will ask listeners questions and include their answers in radio broadcasts. The format also provides the opportunity to engage with audiences. Around one sixth of the population are signed up to the platform. “WhatsApp has been the premier messaging platform for our audiences in Africa for years.” Ms. Saka, “we are addressing people who are in countries where internet is still very expensive.” Because of this, content is usually text-only and not shared via voice notes or other audio-visual media, to address challenges surrounding lower bandwidths. Messages containing news are manually sent to the thousands of people who have subscribed to the offer. It means they “don’t miss anything that made the news on the continent”, said Sinatou Saka, the project lead at Radio France International (RFI), specialising in podcasts and new technology. Through a dedicated WhatsApp thread offered by RFI Afrique daily, subscribers receive a selection of articles and other content, such as programmes and reports from RFI. RFI has a large audience in the continent, and broadcasts news in French and fifteen other languages, including Kiswahili, Hausa and Fulfulde, worldwide, 24 hours a day. Since 2019, France’s international radio broadcaster, Radio France Internationale (RFI), has used WhatsApp as a way of disseminating trusted news and information to people across Africa. ![]()
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