Tunisia's journalists' syndicate criticises the government's 'war on media'

The recent sacking of both the director and the editor-in-chief of Tunisian state television was "an arbitrary government intervention" and a "war on media", says Naji Baghouri, the head of the Tunisian national journalists' syndicate.

By sacking the two officials, the government had turned against HAICA, Tunisia's Independent High Authority for Audiovisual Communication, which Baghouri described as a constitutional authority.

On Sunday, the Tunisian government announced it had replaced the head of state television, Mustapha Ben Letaief, with Rached Younes as caretaker head of the Tunisian Television Corporation, after the channel broadcast a picture of the severed head of a teenager beheaded by Islamists, sparking public outcry.

The 16-year-old shepherd was killed on Friday by Islamists who had accosted him and his cousin on a mountainside in the central province of Sidi Bouzid.

The head of the authority and its members learned about the decision through the media - Naji Baghouri

The two officials were informed of their sacking in a phone call, and the Tunisian broadcast regulatory authority was not informed about the decision beforehand.

"The head of the authority and its members learned about the decision through the media," Baghouri added, describing the situation as "shocking".

Tunisia's general media union, meanwhile, welcomed the decision and slammed the state television channel, el-Wataniya 1, for committing a "major professional mistake", urging journalists to respect the rules of covering acts of terrorism.

"The dismissal of the head of state television was based on the legal terms that regulate media work in Tunisia," said the union chief Mohamed al-Saidi, denying any arbitrary measures related to the government decision.

Younes, the new TV caretaker, has also been criticised as a symbol of corruption during the Ben Ali era.