A new television channel backed by Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger is taking aim at what the three military-led governments describe as one-sided Western coverage of the Sahel. Tafouk TV is designed to promote the alliance’s own account of events across the region.
The channel broadcasts from Bamako via Canal+ and is set to offer news, fact-checking and geopolitical programmes in French, English and local languages. Its launch forms part of a wider effort by the Alliance of Sahel States to establish joint political, security and media institutions as the three countries pull further away from France and deepen relations with Russia.
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Tafouk TV has received Russian support and entered into a cooperation agreement with Russia’s state-funded RT. The alliance is also preparing to create a joint news agency. Critics have cautioned that the emerging media network must not turn into a vehicle for official propaganda, urging the governments to protect greater pluralism in the region’s press.
