Guinea puts France 24 on notice over “inappropriate” reference to leader

Guinea’s media regulator has issued an official warning to French broadcaster France 24 over what it described as the “deliberately used an inappropriate term” when referring to the country’s leader, Caliber.Az reports, citing French newspaper Le Monde.

Guinea is led by President Mamady Doumbouya. The country’s High Authority for Communication (HAC) has previously suspended media outlets on several occasions.

“France 24 deliberately used an inappropriate term to refer to the head of state,” the HAC said in a statement. The statement did not specify which remarks prompted the warning, but during a broadcast on September 14, a presenter referred to Doumbouya as a “putschist president.” Doumbouya came to power in a 2021 coup and was elected president in December 2025 in an election in which there was no significant opposition.

“France 24 knowingly chose to ignore the legitimacy derived from the ballot box by using such a term to describe a democratically elected president of the republic,” the statement said. 

The HAC called on the broadcaster to “make the necessary editorial corrections across all its digital platforms” and warned that it “reserves the right to impose sanctions” in the event of a repeat violation.

France 24 did not immediately respond when Agence France-Presse requested comment.

The HAC later announced that it had also withdrawn the accreditation of a correspondent for news magazine Jeune Afrique, accusing the journalist of “professional misconduct.”