(TAP) – The Independent High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HAICA) warned against the rise of smear campaigns and incitement to violence targeting journalists.

These campaigns are orchestrated by political figures and parties to undermine the journalists’ work, the HAICA said Friday.

The HAICA further warned against these repeated attacks and their danger to the future of the media, especially as they were a direct cause behind the decline in Tunisia’s ranking in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s latest Press Freedom Index, criticizing the besieging of Shems FM’s headquarters by a number of the el-Kram municipal workers and their verbal and physical assaults against its journalists and staff in reaction to a journalistic work.

Freedom of information is a red line, the HAICA considers, calling on all State institutions to respect the citizens’ right to information.

The authority denounced in its statement, the authorities’ silence regarding these attacks, calling the government and the concerned institutions to ensure the safety of the journalists and all the staff of media outlets.

It further called on the judiciary to prioritise cases of repeated attacks on journalists.

Source: TAP News Agency