On 8 December, 2025, the media regulator for Guinea, the High Authority for Communication (HAC), announced the suspension until further notice of Boubacar Koyla Diallo, host of the programme “Autour de la transition” on Parlement TV, over the edition broadcast on 7 December 2025.
The HAC blames the journalist for hosting a program in which, according to the regulator, the participants failed to remain neutral between the presidential candidates running in the election scheduled for December 28, 2025.
The regulatory body cited Articles 39 and 40 of Organic Law L/2010/02/CNT of June 2010 on freedom of the press, Articles 5 and 52 of Organic Law L/2020/0010/AN governing the HAC, and Articles 69 to 71 of the Electoral Code, noting that the guests had made value judgments about the candidates, to justify the suspension. “The lack of neutrality in this program is likely to influence the electorate,” reads the HAC’s decision.
In another decision made public on December 10, the HAC suspended “Kaback TV” for a period of three months. The reason given by the regulatory body was that this television channel had broadcast live on the program “Telero” on Wednesday, December 10 2025, “degrading images, vulgar insults, and indecent and immoral content taken from social media, undermining the dignity of two renowned Guinean artists.”
The HAC refers to the provisions of Article 107 of Organic Law L/2010/02/CNT of June 2010 on freedom of the press and Articles 5 and 52 of Organic Law L/2020/001/AN of July 3, 2020 on the powers, composition, organisation, and functioning of the High Authority for Communication.
As a result of these two suspension measures, Boubacar Koyla Diallo of “Parlement TV” is prohibited from working until further notice. On the other hand, all journalists, technicians, and webmasters at Kaback TV have been kept off the air for the duration of the suspension.
At a meeting with journalists at the HAC headquarters on the subject of media coverage of the campaign, Boubacar Yacine Diallo, the president of the HAC, announced a series of restrictions on journalists’ coverage of the December 28 presidential election. These were verbal restrictions that were not set out in any published media-coverage charter.
Both suspensions were subsequently lifted. On 12 December 2025, the HAC reinstated Kaback TV after the channel’s management presented apologies to the artists concerned and took internal disciplinary measures against the journalists involved.
Other contributing factors to the reinstatement includes several pleas for clemency from the Union of Free Radio and Television Stations of Guinea (URTELGUI) and public and religious figures. However, the “Telero” programme itself remains suspended for three months.
On 16 December 2025, the HAC also lifted the suspension of Boubacar Koyla Diallo after he presented public apologies to the candidates named in the 7 December edition of “Autour de la transition” and following a plea from the administration of Parlement TV.
The MFWA welcomes the lifting of both suspensions and calls on the HAC to prioritise dialogue and to ensure that any future sanctions are proportionate, transparent and consistent with Guinea’s obligations to press freedom.
