Her defense of media freedom and journalists has made her susceptible to many smear campaigns. However, that has not stopped Najiba Hamrouni, the President of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), from pushing her ideas and her formidable presence in Tunisian journalism. Here she discusses the realities of her profession in Tunisia and the challenges facing this sector as a whole, especially after the general strike held on September 17.

Her defense of media freedom and journalists has made her susceptible to many smear campaigns. However, that has not stopped Najiba Hamrouni, the President of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), from pushing her ideas and her formidable presence in Tunisian journalism. Here she discusses the realities of her profession in Tunisia and the challenges facing this sector as a whole, especially after the general strike held on September 17.

Najiba Hamrouni, responses to the general strike’s call varied. Some considered it illegal while others said that the SNJT has gone beyond the limitations of unions’ activities towards the involvement in politics. What is your response to these stances? 

The SNJT’s Basic Law states that among its major principles is the defense of the values of democracy and freedom of expression and press freedom. So if this is considered involvement in politics, then let them say that we are practicing politics par excellence and that we insist on playing this role.

Politicization means that the SNJT has allegiances with one party or stream. But we insist on keeping the same distance from all parties and streams. If politicians support our demands and stand by our side, it for sure means that there are common interests because we are defending the same principles. It is also natural that we enter into confrontation with the ruling party because there are no common principles that gather us with this party.  

All the accusations against us are encouraged by those who are not so happy with SNJT’s performance, its steadfastness, and because it has positioned itself at the forefront of civil society organizations defending freedom of expression.

Were there pressures practiced on SNJT?   

Since the beginning, we have faced many pressures. We started our struggle since 2008 when we confronted a dictatorial regime. A coup was launched against SNJT and its former legitimate bureau, but the youth carried the torch against the former bureau.  Today, we will continue with our march and we will defend the independence of our union and the freedom of the journalism sector.

We have been pressured by many parties and even by the journalists who were supporting the former regime. Unfortunately, some journalists have unhealthy relations with SNJT but they were not able to find anything to use against us because we are clear in what we do. Their attempts to tarnish our reputation and to accuse us of being affiliated with certain parties have failed. 

But we do not deny the financial pressures faced by SNJT. We depend on our funding of the annual membership fees and they are not enough. However, we have trained ourselves to adapt and cope with the various pressures.

What is your assessment of the recent strike carried out by SNJT on September 17, 2013?

I consider it a successful strike on all levels. Some say that it was too early to go on strike, but we had a different perspective because we were assessing the whole process. There are many restrictions imposed on journalists. In one week, three journalists were taken to court and the ruling regime refuses to pass laws to organize the journalism sector. Thus, we reached the climax and we said that this is enough. 

We have expressed our view point in the statements that we have issued and in the reports that have documented many violations against journalists. After that, we organized sit-ins to protest these violations.  Every time we try to negotiate, we find the door closed and thus we have decided to go on strike. Things have reached a very serious level and journalists are being imprisoned. How long should we wait? 

We did not stop there.  After the strike, we decided to boycott the activities of the prime minister until the passing of the laws.  We might still take more steps in the future. 

How do you assess the conditions of the media in Tunisia?

After the revolution, the margins of freedom grew. It is perhaps the first time in the history of the Tunisian media that its role becomes an observatory role rather than a reporting role through the search for truth and playing a monitoring role of the authority’s performance, especially the executive authority. It is perhaps that this role that has caused a shock to many of those who are in charge of the media, those in power, the executive authority as well as the current government. 

We found ourselves in confrontation with the ruling authority. Media is generally keen to be independent and to play a monitoring as well as a reporting role.

After January 14, we developed a new vision and numerous proposals to reform the media. However, we found ourselves confronted with the reality that the media is still under the responsibility of the same persons who are in the decision-making positions. It is natural that we enter into confrontation with them and not to be able to achieve our aim of reforming the media. We were also confronted with a legal system which encourages the dependency of the media on the executive authority and other judicial and legislative authorities. 

How is SNJT following-up on the conditions of journalists in Tunisia?

Employment should be done through the labor department. Unfortunately, owners of media institutions refuse to apply the law. The government is overseeing the conditions of employment and the conditions of journalists.  However, it refuses to make a move.

It is true that we have dealt with many of the individual problems by direct contacts or through negotiations with the owners of different institutions. However, in light of the chaos experienced by the media sector and the absence of laws, it is only natural to find deaf ears in many of the media institutions.

Every day we see new radio stations, newspapers and other media outlets springing up.  Some people find it easy to invest in the media sector. However, it is high time to create a press council and to regulate the written press sector. We have an audiovisual media commission and it has completed its work regarding the conditions’ booklet regulating the audiovisual field. With regards to the other sectors, we are still waiting for them to be finalized. 

The third aspect relates to the rights of journalists. After the revolution, journalists overcame the complex of fear and they crossed the boundaries of the old red lines. Now, every journalist can run an investigation and confront any politician. However, the rights, at the professional and social levels, as well as the work conditions of many media institutions, are very poor compared to foreign institutions. 

Why did the 115 and 116 decrees raise much controversy?

Decrees 115 and 116 were passed at the beginning of the revolution by the High Commission for the Fulfillment of Revolutionary Goals. This commission has also drafted the electoral law and at that time we insisted on the completion of decrees 115 and 116 related to the media sector.

Decree 115 tackles freedom of printing and publishing and decree 116 tackles the creation of an authority to amend the existing audiovisual media authority law.

However, the disruption began with Beji Caid Sebsi’s government before the October 2011 elections. Focus was on the election law and the 115 and 116 decrees were not activated. Then, the government of Jabali was formed and it found out that these laws are revolutionary compared to the old laws because we have provided journalists with the necessary protection and provided guarantees for media independence.

But these laws were rejected by the previous governments and even by Ali Larayedh’s government. In this context, I would like to remind people of our year and a half-long struggle for new amending structures, which are indisputable in democratic countries.  However, the commission until now has unfortunately been suffering from procrastination and attempts to limit its powers.

You said earlier that the Ennahda Movement and the ruling troika are seeking to control the media. How?

There is a clear intention to supervise the media. When we talked about this issue, some have said that this judgment is premature and politicized.  However, after two years we became sure of this because if we examine government’s attitude, we discover that there are several attempts by the government to restrict the public media.

Their attempts were confronted with the journalists’ loud voices and steadfastness. They then came to the idea of selling the public media. In this regard, I can remind you about the calls of Rached Ghannouchi and Ali Larayedh to sell the national television. After that, they diversified their methods until we reached a stage where only pro-government journalists were being employed because the authorities refused to employ journalists according to standards of their qualifications and professional standards.  Today, there is a degrading confrontation going on between journalists and the concerned officials.  Thus, after a year and a half, we have discovered that we are confronted by a government that stands against freedom of expression, and which is hostile to freedom of the press and to journalists.

There has been a full scheme prepared to supervise the public media sector. In the private sector institutions, we have noticed that there is an overlap between politics and financial interests, and we also saw the suspicious money controlling media institutions.  I am sure that this will have its repercussions on the sector as a whole.

There are many rumors on the blacklist of journalists. How far have you come with this list?   

The decision to prepare a black list with the names of corrupt journalists, who were engaged with the former regime, was not taken by the SNJT’s executive office. We formed an independent committee composed of two journalists and lawyers but our work has faced a number of problems and complexities, because issuing such a list will have its legal repercussions because every person whose name is listed has the right to file a law suit and accuse the SNJT of defaming him. Thus, it is important to submit supporting evidences and unfortunately, these evidences are available at the prime ministry, the presidency and the interior ministry who all have the list of journalists from the political police. 

Although we asked the ministry, in more than one occasion, to provide us with the list, it refused to give it to us. Ali Larayedh, who was an interior minister, told us that these people have families and it is not a good thing to defame them.   

The media official in the presidency showed me a number of files that were available to him. When I asked him to give me a copy of the documents, in order to use them in the court of law, he declined and until today, we have been unable to get copies. 

The interior ministry refuses to give us copies, the Presidency of the Republic also refuses, and the government has the same attitude. Who is then responsible for not disclosing the blacklisted names?

What about the smear campaigns targeting you?

We have gained lots of immunity during our work with the former legal bureau. People in the streets stop us and express their continued support and this has encouraged us and made us forget the smear campaigns that were targeting us. Every day on Facebook, there are many campaigns launched against me and by people who do not reveal their real names because they do not have the courage to do so. They use gangs’ methods, which we are very well accustomed to since the days of Ben Ali’s regime and we know that these methods will not lead to any results.

I usually respond to these campaigns with sarcasm. Such trivialities do not bother me at all. I am proud of the respect SNJT enjoys not only locally but also outside Tunisia, especially the pride which we feel when we participate in international events.  

If you left SNJT, what would be your next destination?

Since I devoted myself to SNJT, I stopped writing although I am specialized in investigative journalism and there are several topics that are very exciting for me. I wanted to carry on many investigations at this stage but I couldn’t. Although I am the Editor in Chief ‘Cawtariyat’ Magazine, I have a great passion for writing and for practicing my duties as a journalist.