Mali: immediate suspension of the French channels LCI and TF1
Mali’s High Authority for Communication has decided to remove LCI and TF1 from the country’s TV channel packages, after the broadcast of content deemed defamatory, anxiety‑inducing and harmful to national security.
SUMMARY
Immediate suspension of the French channels LCI and TF1 in Mali this Thursday, November 13, 2025. In its decision, Mali’s High Authority for Communication (HAC) demanded the immediate cessation of broadcasting of LCI and TF1 across all of the country’s TV channel packages. A firm measure addressed to all distributors, following a deliberation by the institution’s board held the day before.
According to the letter signed by Hamidou Keïta, Permanent Secretary of the HAC, this sanction follows the program Grand Dossier broadcast by LCI on Sunday, November 9, 2025, and reposted by TF1 on its website the same day, under the headlines: “Mali, the Jihadists at the Gates of Bamako” and “Mali, the New Stronghold of Al‑Qaida”.
Malian authorities say these pieces amount to glorification of terrorism, defamation of the authorities, an incitement to destabilization, and constitute the spread of fake news.
“Manifest” violations of journalistic ethics?
For the HAC, the reports in question cross the boundaries of ethics and verification, as well as the respect owed to the sovereignty of a state engaged in the fight against violent extremism. The body denounces anxiety‑inducing content likely to feed terrorist propaganda and to undermine ongoing security efforts.
The official letter stresses the seriousness of the observed breaches and reminds that any distributor is required to automatically suspend any foreign service in case of an injunction from the HAC. Malian operators are therefore ordered to carry out this directive without delay.
Broadcasting services are invited to take “all useful measures” to ensure strict implementation of the decision. The HAC, which attaches to its note the decision referenced n°2025-00178/P-HAC, warns that any failure to comply would expose distributors to sanctions provided for by law.
This decision comes as Mali steps up its control over media narratives considered sensitive for national stability.
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