The Malian authorities have suspended yet another French channel in the country, accusing it of false reportage about the country’s defence and security forces.
Mali’s media regulator, the Haute Autorité de la Communication (HAC), announced the suspension of La Chaine Info (LCI) on all radio or television broadcast channels on August 23, 2024. The sanction takes immediate effect, according to the HAC which accused the French media outlet of making “disparaging remarks, gratuitous assertions and false accusations of atrocities” against the “Malian armed forces and their Russian partners.”
The regulator’s decision is in respect of the broadcast on July 27, 2024, of a programme on LCI entitled “Wagner decimated in Mali: The hand of Kiev”. The programme featured an analysis by Colonel Michel Goya, the channel’s military consultant, about the recent deadly attack by insurgents. The HAC accused Colonel Goya and LCI of several violations of some legal and regulatory provisions during the broadcast, particularly with regard to Malian laws on private audiovisual communication services and the press regime.
In addition, the HAC deemed some of the statements to be “tantamount to glorification of terrorism and incitement to destabilization.”
This is not the first clampdown on a French media by Malian authorities, especially by the media regulator, the HAC. In February 2024, the HAC suspended France 2, another French media, for four months. The suspension followed a report aired by the media on January 20, 2024, about Mali’s security situation following the withdrawal of the French military force Barkhane. The HAC accused the broadcaster of glorifying terrorism and supporting the French military presence in Mali, as well as breaching ethics by not inviting Malian authorities to respond. This suspension is part of an ongoing conflict between Mali and France, which has also affected other French media outlets like TV5 Monde, France 24, and Radio France Internationale (RFI), and led to the expulsion of the French journalist Benjamin Roger in February 2022.
The MFWA is extremely concerned about the gradual suppression of press freedom and freedom of expression in Mali and calls for constructive engagements between the media regulator, the HAC, and the suspended media, LCI. The media are crucial in ensuring citizens’ right to access information and in fostering informed public debate. Resorting to suspension as the first response is detrimental and should be replaced by giving the media a chance to correct any alleged errors or misrepresentations, publish a rejoinder, issue a retraction, or apologise, as appropriate.
