What Kind of Media Does Tunisia’s Interim Government Allow?

Only the kind that puts a new democratic mask on the old dictatorship. . . .
What Kind of Media Does Tunisia's Interim Government Allow?


Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Cf. “Tunisia’s interim government abruptly shut down the country’s oldest and most popular private television network [Hannibal TV] on Sunday evening, in an apparent violation of its pledges to respect freedom of expression after the ouster of the authoritarian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. . . .  The shutdown of the network occurred as it was preparing to show an interview with Hamma Hammami, a leader of the banned Communist Party here.  Among the boldest critics of Mr. Ben Ali before he fled, Mr. Hammami has since been a vocal critic of the old ruling party’s role in the interim government, including in an interview broadcast Saturday night on Hannibal TV.  He also has close ties to the Tunisian trade union, which is backing the protests against the new government” (David D. Kirkpatrick, “Tunisia Shuts Down Private TV Channel,” New York Times, 23 January 2011).




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