HAICA, prosecutor’s office: which role? [Upd 1]

Tunis: In its capacity as an audiovisual regulator, the Independent High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (French: HAICA) has sought to discharge as best as it could its mission as set out in decree-law n°116, board member Salah Sersi told TAP on Sunday.The authority has fully exercised its regulatory functions by means of issuing warnings and calls for order to all media actors and pinpoint discourses or conduct that are infringing standards and professional ethics.Nonetheless, the HAICA is facing a worrying fate as it is understaffed and unable to convene its board.This state of affairs paved the way for a prosecutor's office determined to take in hand "the repression" of journalists and claim to itself the authority to impose sanctions against "offenders" among audiovisual journalists, he added.The regulator, Sersi said, had been targeted by a series of decisions which heavily impacted its decision-making competence, including the appointment of a secretary-general tasked with administrative and financial management and the salary freeze for its board members.He also said there has been neither an official decision of shutdown so far nor a decision to nominate a successor.Former HAICA president Nouri Lajmi was notified in February 2023 in a correspondence signed by the secretary-general of the government of the decision under which he shall go into retirement starting January 2023.The authority, Sersi added, endeavoured to comply with the spirit and the letter of the decree-law n°116 and used to refer cases beyond its remit to the public prosecutor's office.Today, much had changed since, he said. The judiciary claimed prerogatives initially granted to the HAICA.Former member Omar Oueslati (judge) deplored the situation of the media regulator which, he said, represented a qualitative leap after the Revolution and endeavoured to restructure the media landscape.Amid the absence of a regulatory body, he further said, the public prosecutor's office claimed the prerogative to enforce laws o f general application on the audiovisual content, citing in this connection Article 86 of the Telecommunications Code and the much-controversial Decree-law n°54.The public prosecutor has become the only authority "mandated" to freely qualify offences which had taken its toll on the freedom of expression in total breach of Article 55 of the Constitution, Oueslati further said.There is need for the media, he said, to comply with the standards of a "responsible" content that meets the expectations of the public.A rich and diversified product is required to "breathe a fresh life" into the political, social and cultural life.A revival of the HAICA is likewise called for so that it can play anew its audiovisual media regulatory role and stand up against misinformation- a threat to the media landscape and national security.Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse