Kaïs Saïed summoned the CEO of national television, Awatef Daly, on August 4, considering that the order given to the news during the 8 p.m. news was “ not innocent “, that some programs acted as ” warmed up “. The Tunisian media have long denounced attacks on freedom of the press and information, since the Tunisian president’s coup two years ago. Journalists have been brought to justice and even sentenced to unprecedented prison terms.
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With our correspondent in Tunis, Lilia Blaise
The convocation of the CEO of national television by the President of the Republic is a first. Organ of television broadcasting in the country since 1963, the Tunisian small screen has always been under pressure from the leaders. It was only after the revolution that it was called Tunisian National Television and was given a real public service mission.
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But with more than a dozen CEOs who have succeeded since 2011, the first Tunisian public channel has never been able to find its independence. On Friday August 4, President Kaïs Saïed accused the channel’s CEO, Awatef Daly, of broadcasting programs that do not meet Tunisians’ expectations. ” This is not an editorial line, but it is that of the forces that oppose freedom and the national liberation movement in which we must all subscribe he said, suggesting other editorial themes, more focused on the 2011 revolution and not the past in his words.
This indictment against the channel’s programming takes place in a context of ” censorship of public media and violation of the principles of pluralism, diversity and objectivity “, according to the words of the statement of the Syndicate of Tunisian journalists, which strongly condemned the presidential remarks, denounced an interference in the work of the public channel and called to respect its independence.
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