FRANCE 24 report: Tunisian authorities ramp up media crackdown ahead of vote

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00:00Outside the elections authority, journalists demonstrate their support for their colleague

00:06Khawla Boukri.

00:08The authority revoked her accreditation to cover the election, accusing the journalist

00:12of lack of objectivity.

00:21We have to continue to cover what's happening during this election despite the intimidation.

00:26The prosecution of sub-presidential candidates, their obstacles to registering as candidates,

00:31the ignored decision of the administrative court on this issue.

00:35Even if they take away our accreditation, we will continue to cover all this.

00:46The journalists' union said it will file a lawsuit against the elections authority

00:50because a dozen other journalists have faced intimidation during this pre-election period.

00:55The authority did not respond to our requests for an interview for this report.

01:00In this atmosphere, journalists are limiting their reporting to basic facts.

01:04That's the case at Reshma, an online media founded seven months ago.

01:14This journalist is recording a segment about young people and politics.

01:19The goal is to demonstrate that there has been a problem since 2011.

01:23The participation is low, so we present figures and I try to analyze the figures.

01:31Reshma's founder, independent journalist Thamer Mekki, advocates explanatory and fact-based

01:35journalism.

01:37The last 15 years has been fertile ground for disinformation and for media instrumentalizing

01:43politics.

01:45So there's a real crisis of confidence in mainstream media.

01:49We're trying to make up for that, to overcome it while recognizing it.

01:55Several journalists have been jailed in recent years amid an increasingly controlled media

01:59sphere.

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