Tunis: The National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) underscored the need for a free, plural and democratic media environment to guarantee transparent elections. In a statement issued on Monday, the day after the launch of the electoral period for the 2024 presidential elections, the union underlined the need to ensure the freedom of journalistic work and the independence of the editorial lines of media institutions, calling for the withdrawal of Decree 54 and the enforcement of Decree-Laws 115 and 116 governing the journalistic profession. According to the same source, the freezing of the activities of the independent High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HAICA) has undermined the diversity of the audiovisual media and is likely to affect the credibility of election coverage. The violations and complaints regarding the censorship of public media content reported by the SNJT should prompt a rethink of the means of guaranteeing the independence of these establishments with a view to providing a space for the expression of all intellectual and political sensibilities. In this connection, the union urged the Executive to lift its stranglehold on the public media, underlining the need to activate the mechanisms of self-regulation within media institutions in order to guarantee the citizen's right to a plural media landscape and ensure the principle of equality between candidates. The union announces that a guidance note on the rules to be taken into account during the campaign period and the examination of challenges will be published. The SNJT concludes by calling to release all journalists arrested in the exercise of their profession, to pacify the public environment and to guarantee freedom of expression. It also urges journalists to respect the ethics of their profession when covering the electoral process. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse