Mali continues to 'punish' the French media

The military government of Mali has banned another French television channel from airing its broadcasts for violating the Media Control Act in the West African country. The High Authority for Communications of Mali (HAC) has announced the removal of France's TV5 Monde from the list of authorized distributors, for a period of three months.

The HAC has said that the decision has been taken following the violation of the text of the law and regulation of the Media Control Sheia, discovered on August 26.

At the end of last August, the Malian government banned the French television channel LCI from broadcasting for two months due to what it called a misrepresentation about the security situation in the West African country.

Also in the past, Mali took the step of suspending in the country the broadcasts of French Radio RFI and France 24 television sponsored by the French government for a period of four months. The military government of Mali at the time accused the media of reporting false news that the army was killing civilians.

Likewise, the governments of Niger and Burkina Faso have suspended the broadcasts of French Radio RFI and France 24 television sponsored by the Paris government, allegedly for broadcasting false and misleading news.