Roger Nikièma/CPJ Guest Blogger
![The author, at left, is holding the mike for Upper Volta President Maurice Yaméogo in 1963. (Courtesy Roger Nikièma)](https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/burkina_faso-maurice_yameogo.jpg?w=400&h=230&crop=1)
A springtime for Burkina Faso’s press
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…