‘Vive la grande famille des médias tunisiens’ Media reform, authoritarian resilience and societal responses in Tunisia

Abstract

The concept of authoritarian upgrading introduced by Heydemann significantly contributes to explain how Arab authoritarian rulers have been able to maintain their grip on power while introducing a number of liberal reforms. The media reform in Tunisia has been widely interpreted indeed as one of those liberal reforms implemented to give domestic and international constituencies the sentiment that genuine liberalisation is under way in the country and it has therefore been dismissed as a façade reform. While this interpretation contains a degree of validity, this paper challenges the notion that the reform is exclusively about authoritarian upgrading. Perhaps unwittingly, the reform has permitted the arrival on the media scene of new social voices and actors that never had the opportunity to discuss taboo topics and this transforms public debate. While political discussions were excluded and political pluralism absent, the new private media managed to challenge previously prevailing notions of national unity and homogeneity.

Keywords:

• authoritarian upgrading
• social responses
• media reform
• Tunisia
• privatisation

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to the anonymous referees for the helpful comments. We would also like to acknowledge the financial support to carry out this research received from the Panos Institute in Paris. Finally, we are also indebted to the media professionals and activists in Tunisia who were so kind to share their views and experiences with us.

Notes

Address by President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali on the Occasion of the 16th Anniversary of the Change. See www.changement.tn/english – speeches. Last accessed on November 2, 2009.

The five local radio stations are placed respectively in Sfax, an important business city on the eastern coast, Monastir, a touristic centre on the coast and the home of large sectors of the political elite, Le Kef in the mountainous area to the west of Tunis, Gafsa, a geographically isolated town of importance because of its phosphor mines, and finally Tataoiune in the isolated area to the south-east of the country bordering the desert and Libya.

Interviews with Tunisian journalists carried through from November 2008 to September 2009. The journalists wish to remain anonymous.

Interviews with members of the Association Tunisienne de Lutte contre le MST et le SIDA and Association Tunisienne pour l'Autodeveloppement et la Solidarité, Tunis, March 2009.

See www.nawaat.org, 10 February 2009.