Anti-government protests in Tunisia. Photo: Michael Irving Jensen/IMS

Almost a month after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country, protests continue. But while the symbol of the regime has been removed, the old system is alive and well in sectors such as the media, according to IMS' Tunisian media partners

By Helle Wahlberg, IMS 

“The head has been removed, but the body is still there.” Such was the description of the current situation given by Tunisian media partners to International Media Support (IMS) colleagues visiting Tunisia this week to look at how IMS may best support Tunisian media in this crucial transition phase. The symbolic reference was made to the removal of the former President Ben Ali from power following protests, while many of the leading figures of his regime remain in powerful posts, hence keeping the old system alive.

- There is a careful optimism in the media and the general population which is linked to the newfound freedom to speak out in public without retribution – a change from the repressive years under former President Ben Ali, says Michael Irving, Senior Middle East Researcher, IMS.  

But so far, the leadership in Tunisia's larger sectors such as the media, the security forces and government administration remains the same as under the Ben Ali regime. The same laws still apply which hinder freedom of information and expression of media.

-For this reason it is more important now than ever for the international community to maintain focus on freedom of expression and press freedom in Tunisia and work together with Tunisian media to push through media reforms over the next six months. IMS will also strengthen its support to independent media in the country to continue to provide an alternative information source to dominant state media, says Jesper Højberg, Executive Director of IMS, who also visited Tunisia this week.

As a positive step forward, a committee of media experts led by the well-known Tunisian journalist, human rights activist and partner of IMS, Sihem Bensedrine, has been established to draft proposals for a new media law to be presented to the interim government. The committee has also demanded that a national press council be set up.    

Independent media can lead the way

The road ahead for Tunisian media is littered with challenges, according to Michael Irving Jensen. Under the previous regime of Ben Ali, there were virtually no opposition papers or NGOs. There is a need to build new structures within media, for the general understanding of journalism and the ethics tied to journalism to be revised. 

As the Editor in Chief of Radio Kalima, one of Tunisia’s few independent radio stations that transmitted via satellite in Tunisia during the Ben Ali regime, Sihem Bensedrine understands the challenges facing media in Tunisia today. She herself has lived in exile for long periods at a time, but is now back in Tunisia. IMS has supported Radio Kalima over a number of years to ensure the Tunisian people access to other information sources than state media plagued by propaganda and censorship.

Radio Kalima now expects to be granted permission to transmit within the country and with support from IMS may well become an example to other upcoming independent media in a country still dominated by one-sided state media.

IMS in Tunisia

The bulk of IMS' support to media in Tunisia has been concentrated around independent media which operated under extremely difficult circumstances under the Ben Ali regime. IMS also works with the Tunisian Monitoring Group, a group of national and international media and human rights organisations seeking to coordinate support for media and media reform in Tunisia.  

The other strand of IMS support has been focused on monitoring media coverage of elections to establish whether the coverage was fair and balanced and to actively engage civil society and media professionals in a debate on how to secure more professional media coverage. IMS now aims to monitor Tunisian media’s coverage of the current situation over the next six months to provide the media themselves as well as the national committee looking at media reform, with insight into how the media work.