Roger Nikièma/CPJ Guest Blogger - Committee to Protect Journalists

The author, at left, is holding the mike for Upper Volta President Maurice Yaméogo in 1963. (Courtesy Roger Nikièma)

A springtime for Burkina Faso’s press

July 21, 2010 5:28 PM EDT

I will continue to relive for a long time August 5, 1960, the day Upper Volta, as Burkina Faso was then known, proclaimed independence from France! As a presenter of the newly founded national radio network, I was on the air, which was open to listeners all night. Some listeners, with tears of joy on…