In 1991, Zongo, after working for the national daily paper "Sidwaya", founded "La Clef" with Saturnin Ki. It was the first newspaper in Burkina Faso to openly criticism the government, with Zongo contributing under the pseudonym Henri Sebgo (or H.S.). The paper folded in 1993. That June, Zongo founded the weekly "L'Indépendant", which primarily covered government corruption. In 1996, he began investigating a series of fraud and graft cases involving several mining and manufacturing companies with ties to top political officials and President Blaise Compaoré's family. His resulting work severely embarrassed the government. The following year, Zongo directly criticized the Parliament's decision to amend the Constitution to allow Compaoré to seek a third term.