TITLE:
Mediating Sovereignty: Legitimacy and the Portrayal of Burkina Faso Leader in Jeune Afrique
AUTHORS:
Tokoumbo Adebayo Assani
KEYWORDS:
Media Framing, Sovereignty, Jeune Afrique, Legitimacy, Ibrahim Traoré
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.13 No.11,
November
25,
2025
ABSTRACT: This study conducts a qualitative content analysis of the French magazine “Jeune Afrique”’s coverage of Ibrahim Traoré, the transitional president of Burkina Faso. Using framing theory, the author analyzes seven articles to argue that the magazine systematically delegitimizes Traoré’s sovereigntist leadership through biased selection, lexicon, and moral judgment. The paper contrasts this with the legitimizing portrayal of Gabon’s leader, revealing a discursive double standard based on geopolitical alignment and introduces “informational sovereignty” as a crucial dimension of African autonomy.