Media desertification in Tunisia .. National issues are replaced by “sale of utensils” programs policy

Al -Jazeera Net Correspondents

Tunisia- About 4 years after Tunisian President Qais Said announced his exceptional procedures on July 25, 2021, the media scene in Tunisia is living a suffocating crisis that exceeds the limits of pursuing and detention journalists, to include the essence of the media content itself, which has significantly receded in superficial and meager programs, absent from the opposition and serious discussion topics.

Observers confirm that the media scene is witnessing a real “desertification” in the content, and the almost complete domination of TV programs that have turned into platforms for selling household items, cooking machines, etc., occupying more than half of the hours of daily broadcasting.

Observers add that this type of programs, which focuses on excitement and banality, came at the expense of the fundamental national issues, which reflected negatively on the quality of journalistic and media work in the country.

President Saeed has always denied – in previous meetings with a number of ministers – restricting freedom of the press, stressing that freedom of expression is guaranteed and that it does not retract them, in response to the criticisms directed against him because of the arrest of a number of people, including journalists and commentators in television and radio programs under Decree No. 54.

Ansar Saeed confirms that freedom of expression is guaranteed in the country and that many pens opposed to the president are publishing critical articles for the president without being pursued, stressing that the arrest of a number of people – including journalists – according to Decree No. 54 or the criminal magazine comes as a result of committing distorting crimes and financial crimes.

Red lines

Journalist Ziad Al -Hani believes that this “media desertification” is not isolated from the measures taken by President Saeed, which, according to his saying, formed the beginning of an authoritarian stage that limited rights and freedoms, on top of which is freedom of expression.

In his speech to Al -Jazeera Net, Al -Hani explained that “the coup against the constitution paved the way towards a system that restricts the right to enforce the information, and causes press freedoms,” adding that “the pursuit of journalists with restraining laws and the absence of the independence of the judiciary created a climate of fear and self -control, which made the journalistic practice fraught with risks.”

The journalist notes that the absenteeism of the opposition, the closure of the field in front of criticism and political debate, emptied the media from its professional content, and subjected it to red lines imposed by the authority.

He adds that the economic crisis that Tunisia is going through, in turn, affected the financing of media institutions, which prompted a number of channels to adopt easy commercial programs to attract advertisers, even if it is at the expense of the media content.

Observers unanimously agree that the suffocating economic crisis prompted several media to search for alternative sources of income, so she chose to provide marketing and advertising content, which is easy to bring financing and achieve high viewership, but it lacks the press value.

Since July 25, 2021, several presidential decrees have been issued that sparked widespread controversy, most notably Decree No. 54, which was considered by journalists and jurists “a sword that is authority” on freedom of expression. International human rights organizations have condemned these steps, while the country recorded the arrest of a number of prominent journalists and activists, including Murad Al -Zaghidi and Shatha Al -Hajj Mubarak, in cases that many counted are related to restricting freedom of opinion and expression.

The reality of the media

In the same context, journalist Abdel Salam Al -Zubaidi believes that the Tunisian media cannot be separated from the general political framework. “The media is an industry, but it is originally an integral part of the political context,” Al -Zubaidi told Al -Jazeera Net, adding that the nature of the media reality today completely reflects the situation that followed the procedures of July 25.

“Whoever knows President Qais Saeed realizes that he does not believe in the media, foremost of which is media institutions,” Al -Zubaidi added. It indicates that the media that originated after the revolution in 2011 found himself in a reality that is not recognized by the head of power, while part of it – Naka in the previous regime – was involved in supporting a new system that does not believe in democracy or freedom of expression.

Al -Zubaidi acknowledged that before a happy procedure was not perfect, and he was suffering from corruption and the absence of professionalism in some of his components, but he was a margin of freedom. Today, he lives in a state of complete strangulation and almost complete absence of free spaces.

Al -Zubaidi divides the reality of the media in Tunisia into 3 tracks:

• The first: a media that revolves around the orbit of power, adopts its discourse and includes the public media and some of the special platforms that have turned into advertising trumpets.
• The second: Resistant media seeks to maintain the minimum freedom through the investigation and investigation press.
• The third: Il’s media to disappear, suffers from chronic financing crises, and lives on advertising crumbs and marketing programs such as “selling utensils”.

An ongoing decline

Local and international reports confirm continuing to decline in the indicators of freedom of expression in Tunisia in recent years. The “Reporters Without Borders” organization revealed that Tunisia retreated 11 centers in the Freedom of Press Index for the year 2025, noting the escalation of hostilities towards journalists and the repeated prosecutions against them, which led to the narrowing of free discussions and the growing self -censorship within the news rooms.

On previous occasions, journalists in Tunisia organized protests and protests to demand the suspension of arbitrary prosecutions and arrests, stressing that defending freedom of the press does not only fall within the professional demands, but it is one of the pillars of the democratic system, and a basic condition for achieving justice and transparency in managing public affairs.