“Political clown”: HACA warns a Life TV columnist over insulting remarks

La suite après la publicité

On November 4, 2025, during the “Petit Poteau Politique” program broadcast on Life TV, a columnist made remarks considered inappropriate toward her guest, Mr. Jean-François Kouassi. “Since you arrived, I’ve been chuckling a bit, because to me I could see you as someone not very serious, almost a kind of political clown. You don’t follow the rules, yet you want us to trust youth,” said columnist Isabelle Vovor addressing her guest.

These statements, reviewed by the College of Members of the HACA, were judged “offensive if not insulting” toward the guest. The authority, having taken up the case on its own initiative, decided to issue a warning to the columnist concerned.

The HACA calls for respect of ethical rules

In its press release signed by its president, Me René Bourgoin, the HACA recalls that debate programs, while being spaces for expression and opinion, must remain places of respectful exchange. “The freedom of tone inherent to this type of program cannot be exercised outside the rules of courtesy and decency toward guests,” strongly recommends the HACA president.

The HACA thus urges journalists and hosts to adopt more professional conduct, in order to ensure a “responsible and constructive” media space that contributes to informing citizens in their socio-political choices.

This decision, made public on November 6, 2025, constitutes a formal admonition addressed to all actors in the Ivorian audiovisual landscape. The objective, according to the HACA, is to maintain the quality of public debate and to avoid verbal excesses that could discredit the journalistic profession.