Tunisia has been a leading Arab country in establishing some of the first newspapers in the 19^th century. Together with Egypt and Lebanon, Tunisia was among the first to develop an independent and vibrant press in the 20^th century. This historical background only highlights the present day drastic declination of press freedom in the country.

The government has a monopoly on all television and radio, and along with the ruling party, the Rassemblement Constitutionel Democratique (RCD) controls the nationally distributed newspapers. These include Es Sahafa, Al Hurriya, Le Renouveau as well as the main French-language daily La Presse. The current situation has earned Tunisia the sobriquet of being a country with seven versions of Pravda. The restrictions on the freedom of speech has earned the long-term and all-powerful president Zein El Abidine Ben Ali repeated showing on the list of the ‘Ten Worst Enemies of the Press’ produced by the Committee to Protect Journalists, while in 1997 the Tunisian Newspaper Association was expelled from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) over failure to support a more open press.

Ben Ali’s government has a long history of persecuting outspoken journalists, who risk losing their jobs and accreditation when being too critical in their reporting. Most recently, in March 2007, journalist Mohamed Fourati received a 14-month prison sentence in absentia for two articles he wrote back in 2002. One of these articles was published on the internet. The sentence was motivated in that the article proved that he belonged ‘to an opposition group.’ The other article was about fund-raising for the family of a political prisoner.

Even the privately owned Arabic-language dailies As Sabah and Al Chourouk contribute to the personal cult of the president and rarely challenge the government on serious policy issues. The newspapers of the other political parties, which are allied to the government, have run into the ground for lack of readership. There are virtually only two papers that put up serious opposition to the government—the Renewal Movement’s monthly Al-Tariq Al Jadid (The New Way) and the Progressive Socialist Rally’s weekly Al Mawkif (The Stance). The government has made corruption and human-rights issues off-limit for the media as well as discussion about the banned Islamic movement An Nahda Al Islamiyya, whose strength is hard to gauge because of a comprehensive government crackdown on their activities throughout the 1990s. As a result of the state’s watertight control of the press there are two styles of journalism in Tunisia: uncritical reports of government actions and an overflow of tabloid-style news on crime, entertainment and gossip.

On the legislative level the government has taken some small steps to amend the restrictive Press Code, abolishing some of its controversial clauses. In 2005, the government began the process of abolishing the clause called “dépôt legal 10”, which require newspapers to provide a receipt from the Ministry of Interior before being permitted to go to print. Nevertheless and in spite of the government’s repeated promises to initiate new amendments, journalists still risk prison terms for press offenses as the authorities claim they must defend public figures against bad and sensationalist reporting and to sanction those who offend public morality. The state’s effort to control the flow of information is not limited to national newspapers, as foreign publications considered to portray the country in an unfavorable light are censored or confiscated. More recently the government has been policing the internet and blocking access to websites that criticize human rights abuses in the country, including the websites of Amnesty International site and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The press also suffers from limited circulation: the best selling Al Shurouq sells around 45,000 copies while La Presse sells around 30,000. As if a small market is not a sufficient commercial handicap, the state’s obsession for control has created restrictive licensing regulations and a system whereby the government uses the advertisements from state bodies, which are the major advertisers, as a form of subsidy that further affects the sector. The dependence of most newspapers on advertising allocated by the government is an effective control mechanism over the material published.

Did you know?

One of the oldest Arab newspapers, the official Al Ra’id Al Tunisi (The Tunisian Forerunner), was established in 1860 by the Tunisian ruler Sadeq Pasha and was published until the 1950s.
 

Language: Arabic
Established: N/A
Published daily

The leading pro-government newspaper, Al Chourouk provides an uncritical coverage of the activities of President Zein El Abidine Ben Ali and faithfully reflects the official line of the ruling party through its editorials. The newspaper has a special section on north Africa called Al Maghreb, as the western part of the Arab world, which besides Tunisia, includes Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania, is called in Arabic.

Website: http://www.alchourouk.com
 

Language: Arabic
Established: N/A
Published weekly

A leading opposition weekly of the Progressive Democratic Party and the most frequently harassed of the authorized publications, Al Mawkif is denied public subsidy and advertising. On its pages, Al Mawkif closely follows cases of breaches of human rights, such as political prisoners and the so-called “internet prisoners”, which are a group of young people who in 2004 were sentenced for using the internet to obtain information on explosives. 

Website: http://www.pdpinfo.org

Language: Arabic
Established: N/A
Published daily

A pro-government newspaper, As Sabah is a tabloid, with a focus mainly on non-political news and sport. As Sabah has a weekly publication called Al Usbu’i, which provides more serious political news coverage.

Website: http://www.assabah.com.tn
 

Language: Arabic
Established: 1989
Published daily

A government-owned newspaper, Es Sahafa provides the most systematic and panegyric coverage of the achievement of President Zein El Abidine Ben Ali.

Website: http://www.essahafa.info.tn
 

Language: French
Established: 1936
Published daily

The French-language sister paper of the Arabic daily Es Sahafa, the once so prestigious La Presse is now filled with articles describing the great achievements of President Zein El Abidine Ben Ali. The newspaper, however, still shows some of its old professional style when covering the cultural scene.

Website: http://www.lapresse.tn
 

Language: French
Established: N/A
Published daily

The French-language sister paper of the pro-government Arab daily Al Chourouk, which besides the prominent place allocated to President Zein El Abidine Ben Ali allocates an important space to non-political national news. Le Quotidien has a special supplement for the young, Jeunes au quotidien.

Website: http://www.lequotidien-tn.com
 

Language: French
Established: 1978
Published daily

The official newspaper of the ruling party Rassemblement Constitutionel Democratique, the pages of Le Renouveau are exclusively dedicated to deliver uncritical coverage of the activities, speeches and policies of the all-powerful president Zein El Abidine Ben Ali and his party.

Website: http://www.tunisieinfo.com/indexrenouveau.html