TUNISIAN JOURNALISTS DIVIDED OVER ASSOCIATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 001085

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA (DIBBLE),NEA/MAG (WELLS, LAWRENCE),NEA/PPD
(QUINN, SMITH, GLAZIER),NEA/PI (MULENEX, KIRBY),DRL
(BUTLER)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2015
TAGS: KPAO PHUM PGOV KDEM TS KMEPI
SUBJECT: TUNISIAN JOURNALISTS DIVIDED OVER ASSOCIATION
REPORT ON SITUATION OF THE PRESS

REF: A. 2004 TUNIS 2255

B. TUNIS 977

C. 2004 TUNIS 1798

Classified By: Amb. William J. Hudson; reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

1.(C) Summary. On May 3, the QUANGO Tunisian Journalists
Association (AJT) released two very different reports on the
situation of the press in the country. The six
pro-government members of the AJT board produced a mild
report, while the three "independent" members elected to the
AJT board in September 2004 (Ref A) released another more
hard-hitting report. The pro-government faction then sought
to discipline the "independent" members and distance the AJT
from their report. The two factions reached a compromise on
May 13 that allowed the "independent" members to remain on
the board, but the AJT publicly rejected their more critical
report. This contretemps shows that while there is a growing
number of journalists willing to speak publicly about the
journalistic reality in Tunisia, the majority still fears
government reprisals. This division reflects the weakened
condition of a press long hobbled by government control and
self-censorship. End Summary.

Background
--------------
2.(C) The AJT is the only government-recognized journalist
association in Tunisia. Long known for its close ties to the
GOT, it was suspended from the International Federation of
Journalists in March 2004 for failure to protect or advance
the rights of journalists in the country. In a historic
election in September 2004, three journalists (Zyed El-Heni,
Neji Baghouri and Mohsen Abderahmane) won seats on the AJT
board after running on an "independent" ticket that promised
to work within the system to seriously address the problems
facing Tunisian journalists. (Ref A)

A Tale of Two Reports
--------------
3.(C) Zyed El-Heni provided IO with the following insight
into the functioning of the AJT and the events surrounding
the release of two AJT reports on World Press Freedom Day,
May 3, 2005. (Ref B) He explained that, on March 10, the AJT
board decided that they would handle the drafting of the 2005
report and designated "independent" Neji Baghouri as the
secretary for the project with responsibility for compiling

SIPDIS
the different inputs and drafting the final report. The
board divided up areas of responsibility and agreed to meet
back on April 28. On April 28, El-Heni reports that AJT
President Faouzi Bouzaiene instructed the board members to
provide their inputs to another "pro-government" member of
the board, Jamel Karmaoui, instead of to Baghouri. The three
"independent" members allegedly refused to do so and a
compromise was reached in which Baghouri would combine all of
the different angles to ensure that both the "pro-government"
and the "independent" point of view was represented.

4.(C) El-Heni reports that, on May 2, the other board members
refused Baghouri's version of the report and presented their
own report which opened with a laudatory paragraph for all of
President Ben Ali's support and contributions to the media
sector. This report (not yet translated into English or
French) contained general calls for the improvement of the
financial and administrative status of Tunisian journalists.
Baghouri and Abderahmane refused to approve the "official
version" which was passed by the other six members of the
board. (El-Heni was absent due to a family emergency.) On
May 3, the AJT board published its "official version" at the
same time that the three independent members distributed
their own more critical report (on "the rampant violations
undergone by Tunisian journalists under the form of
censorship, harassment, and various other sorts of
oppression") by e-mail, fax, and listserv. Both reports were
issued in the name of the AJT.

Failed Attempt to Expel the Independent Members
-------------- --
5.(U) On May 4, the AJT issued a communique that denounced
the parallel report. On May 5, Bouzaiene held a press
conference on the issue. On May 7, (Ref B) Baghouri was
called in to police headquarters and questioned as to the
authority under which he presumed to send out reports on the
state of the press in Tunisia. On May 10, the AJT announced
a decision to exclude the three independent members from the
organization.

6.(C) On May 13, AJT held a meeting of their steering
committee. El-Heni reported that, at the same time that the
meeting was held, over fifty journalists assembled in
adjacent rooms at AJT headquarters, presented a petition in
support of the independent members, and sang the Tunisian
national anthem. El-Heni called this "a historic day" for
AJT, claiming that similar orchestrated movements of support
for fellow journalists have never occurred in Tunisia.
El-Heni mentioned to the IO that, during this meeting,
Bouzaiene accused El-Heni of "having visited the US Embassy
shortly before May 3 and having transmitted documents to US
officials." El-Heni denied this false allegation and
challenged Bouzaiene to open an investigation into such a
charge. In the end, according to El-Heni, this meeting
resulted in an agreement that the three independent members
would remove the AJT name from their report and would
continue as members of the board.

Misleading Communiques Seek to Discredit Independent Members
-------------- --------------
7.(C) The story does not end there. On May 14, private
Arabic daily "Ash Shourouq" (which reportedly takes editorial
direction from Presidential Counselor Abdelwaheb Abdallah)
printed an AJT communique stating that the three independent
members had "apologized" for their actions. On May 15, most
other papers ran an AJT communique stating that the three
independent members had "acknowledged the errors of their
ways." El-Heni provided the IO with the language of the
communique that had actually been agreed upon on May 13 by
the steering committee. Contrary to what had appeared in the
local press, it noted that "there were errors on all sides"
and contained no acceptance of guilt on the part of the
independents. El-Heni interpreted this final tactic of
distributing inaccurate communiques as an attempt by the GOT
to discredit the three independent members. El-Heni noted,
however, that the GOT had not succeeded as too many
journalists knew the facts and supported his actions.

Comment
--------------
8.(C) This story confirms that the AJT remains under GOT
control, but suggests that such control may be slipping as
journalists begin to stand together in support of their own
rights. It shows that the "private" and very popular (and
populist) Arabic daily "Ash-Shourouq" remains willing to do
the government's dirty work in leading the way in publishing
false communiques. Further, it shows how links to the U.S.
are used in attempts to undermine civil society members who
choose to work with us. The Mission remains, however,
engaged in support for freedom of expression, and activists
such as El-Heni welcome this support.
HUDSON