Tunis–A number of Tunisian political parties have issued statements denouncing Qatar-based news network Al-Jazeera for exaggerating recent incidents of public unrest in the country. They went on to accuse the network of “targeting the stability of Tunisia."
The statements were published by Tunisia's official news agency and a number of local newspapers, which observers say are controlled by the government.
"Some satellite channels have deliberately fabricated and exaggerated information, which was taken from biased sources in order to tarnish the image of the country,” the Popular Unity Party said in a statement.
The Movement of Socialist Democrats also asserted that some in the Arab and foreign media had "exaggerated the incidents that took place in the city of Sidi Bouzid in order to mar Tunisia's image."
The Unionist Democratic Union, for its part, claimed that Al-Jazeera had failed to confirm the veracity of the photos and videos it had obtained from online social networks, questioning the credibility of the news network's coverage. The union also alleged that the channel had exaggerated the size of recent popular demonstrations.
In its statement on Monday, the Liberal Social Party lashed out at Al-Jazeera, accusing the channel of having "ulterior designs" against the interests of Tunisia and the Tunisian people.
Tunisia's Green Party for Progress, meanwhile, similarly denounced what it described as Al-Jazeera's “prejudiced and false allegations,” accusing the channel of deliberately magnifying recent examples of public unrest. The party went so far as to accuse the network of using photo-shopped images to mislead viewers.
Nour Eddine al-Mubaraki, a journalist with Tunisian newspaper Al-Watan–which is owned by the pro-regime Unionist Democratic Union–said that Al-Jazeera and other foreign satellite channels had benefited from the absence of news coverage by the national media. “Only a few partisan newspapers, along with the General Union of Tunisian Workers' newspaper, covered the events,” he noted.
Adopting a position different to that of his party, which refrained from criticizing local media for failing to cover recent events in Sidi Bouzid, al-Mubaraki called on Tunisia's Channel 7 television network to broadcast interviews with government officials, including the interior minister, about the events.
In protest against the local media's passive stance, a group of independent journalists staged a vigil on Monday in front of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists headquarters to demand greater press freedom.
On 17 December, a young unemployed Tunisian man, Mohammed Bouazizi, drew attention to his plight by attempting to commit suicide by setting himself on fire. The incident triggered a wave of popular protests in the city of Sidi Bouzid, located some 210km south of the capital.
Protests quickly spread all over the country. In one case, a protester was shot dead by police. It remains unclear exactly how many people have been arrested by authorities for participating in the disturbances.
Protesters began by changing slogans and demanding certain social benefits. Soon, however, they were making calls for the removal of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Protesters specifically condemned the president's tendency to appoint his relatives–and those of his wife, Leila Ben Ali al-Tarabulsi–to key government positions, thereby allowing the country's ruling elite to control the national economy and confiscate private property.
Although the media does not report on huge sums of money embezzled by the so-called “Carthage Palace Mafia,” the population knows about the stealing. People shouted slogans, calling the president’s relatives “a gang of thieves” or “the Tarabulsi gang.”
Observers say the judicial immunity and political power enjoyed by the president’s relatives prevent the local media from exposing the scandal.
"We have no freedom of the press in Tunisia, as evidenced by the media blackout on those events,” said Mahmoud al-Aroussi, journalist at the Al-Tareeq Al-Jadid weekly magazine. “We watched the events on channels across the world, and not on channel Tunis 7 that we’re forced to finance from our own pockets.”
“The coverage we saw in the local media was very superficial,” he added. “They should’ve been present in the middle of the events, sending us information first-hand."
A few pro-regime newspapers last week began publishing about the events after receiving special government instructions so as to deter people from watching it on satellite television or the Internet.
Internet social networks like "Facebook" and "Twitter" succeeded in portraying the picture through videos and photos taken by bloggers. In what is known as "citizen journalism,” they produced material that satellite channels and news agencies use when prohibited from sending correspondents to areas of unrest.
Tunisian authorities have silenced all voices addressing the popular unrest. They banned the latest edition of Al-Tareeq Al-Jadid discussing the events, and the company in charge of distribution continues to supply feeble excuses as to why the magazine is sitting in warehouses since Friday.
The Al-Mawqif newspaper of the Democratic Progressive Party said that authorities withdrew 572 copies on 24 December without judicial permission to do so.
The paper demanded that the government allow that the copies be released in respect for the right of opposing government. It also called on civil society organizations and independent journalists to address repeated violations of press freedoms.
