Ben Farhat, Ben Hamida, Elbaloumi, Elwartani, Ben Charbiyeh, Elhani, and Elsharfi, are just a few among many Tunisian journalists who have received death threats from terrorist groups. As a result, the Interior Ministry, which not long ago kept journalists under surveillance, is now providing threatened journalists with security protection—some accept the extra security, others do not. 

Ben Farhat, Ben Hamida, Elbaloumi, Elwartani, Ben Charbiyeh, Elhani, and Elsharfi, are just a few among many Tunisian journalists who have received death threats from terrorist groups. As a result, the Interior Ministry, which not long ago kept journalists under surveillance, is now providing threatened journalists with security protection—some accept the extra security, others do not. 

“It is ironic,” said Sofian Ben Farhat, a well-known print (La Presse de Tunisie Newspaper), radio and television journalist who has accepted the government’s protection.  recently, within 48 hours, he received three death threat messages—handwritten letters promising death by shooting and burning.

“The police used to watch and observe journalists’ movements, prevent them from meeting with certain people and restrict their freedoms. But today the police play a different role,” he said. “No one would have dreamt of such a situation, no fortune teller would have expected it, and not the most skilful analysts, who are very optimistic about the results of the revolution, would have predicted it,” said Ben Farhat who was around when Ben Ali’s regime assigned secret security agents to relentlessly monitor journalists known for being critical of the regime.

Mahmoud Thawadi, director of Tunisia Observatory for the Protection of Journalists, said: “During the era of Ben Ali, journalists, especially those who used to work for foreign media, were under strict supervision. They were not allowed to move freely and they were always summoned by the security centers to investigate with them. Today, things have changed and now security personnel accompany some journalists to protect them and to allow them to practice their work with ease.” 

A relationship of a special nature

Soufiane Ben Farhat, now with a head full of white hair said: “The presence of a permanent security officer with the journalist, who goes wherever the journalist goes, creates a relation of a special nature between the two. Other colleagues, who still hold the same old perception of security personnel, cannot understand such a relation, because of the long years of harassment, surveillance and repression.” 

Sakina Abdul Samad, General Secretary of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), says it is only natural that a society’s perception of security men does not automatically change just because a repressive regime has been toppled. “There should be a phase of revision and polarization until a new relation is established based on the respect and guarantees for freedom of expression and the values of the Republic,” Abdul Samad said.

Ben Farhat admits that there are new kinds of pressures as a result of the security protection provided to him and he admits that the relation between the security official and the escorted person is not always intimate. “One day, I went to a restaurant which sells spirits to meet some colleagues. When I arrived to the restaurant, the security officer refused to go in.  He was angry and he shouted and protested. He said that his religion, as well as his beliefs, forbade him from going to place where alcohol is sold. I felt again as if I am suffocating and under the same restrictions as before.”

It is becomes “normal”

Lutfi Hajji, a Tunisia Al-Jazeera correspondent, says it was normal having a security official around in the Ben Ali era. “In the beginning, I used to feel tired and suffocated, but after a while, I got used to having them observing me,” he remembered. 

“Once I was in a distant place and my car broke down,” he said. “They fixed it for me and on many occasions they drove me to the places I needed to go. On some occasions, they politely asked me not to go to certain places in order not to force me not to do so,” he explained. 

Today, Lutfi Hajji is freely performing his work and waiting to see how the situation will develop after the announcement of the new government.  At the moment he does not have any security protection, but he does believes that the terrorists’ threats received by his fellow colleagues, especially in recent years, are impacting on the production of journalists, especially the young journalists who want to practice their new experiences in an atmosphere of freedom and independence

For Lufti Hajji, he says it is important to build a relationship between journalists and security personnel based on respect and cooperation. However, he is still afraid that the security grip on the media might return under the pretext of confronting terrorist threats, most of which come from Libya.

Negative impact

Since the revolution, the margins of freedom after the revolution have expanded in Tunisia. Journalism became a respected profession and sought after by many people, especially the youth, who had been active in Tunisian and foreign media institutions.  Today, they dream to produce media worthy of the post-revolutionary era. However, reports about journalists receiving death threats and needing security protection has discouraged some young would be journalists.

“After the latest threats to Nofal Ouertani and Moez Ben Gharbia, the unconfirmed news on the killing of blogger Sofiane Chourabi and photojournalist Nazir Alqtara, who have been missing in Libya for a while, as well as after the terrorist attack in the center of Paris at Charlie Hebdo, journalists have become fearful again,” said journalist Saqina Abdul Samad adding that Tunisian investigative reports have been falling in numbers since the revolution. 

Walid Mejri, a young journalist specialized in investigative journalism, believes the general conditions in the country are not easy, given the security threats, and thus journalism is no more a safe or comfortable profession. “It is not easy to work under terrorists’ threats, not even with security protection,” he said.

Since the revolution, SNJT asked the Ministry of Interior to provide protection to all national media headquarters, especially after the threats of terrorist Kamal Zarrouk, in which he claims that “the first war began on security and the subsequent war will be on journalists.” 

Importance awareness 

Dr. Moiz bin Masood, a trainer in the field of communications at the Institute of Journalism and News Science believes that the relationship between journalists and security personnel should be characterized by communication and cooperation, but until now, it is still a tense and unpredictable relationship.

This can be explained by the presence of an awareness, which both journalists and security developed during the era of Ben Ali. It is normal, he says, for the media, being a tool which reveals facts and violations made by the authority, to be in conflict with security personnel, who are always on the side of the government and who act as its strong stick, which it uses to blur the truth and intimidate journalists. 

The general conditions of fear and intimidation that prevailed after the revolution as a result of several factors have impacted younger journalists, who are still at the beginning of their professional career. This, according to Ben Masoud, requires training courses for young journalists in order to be able to work despite threats and to be ready to communicate and deal with all parties, including security personnel.

Soufiane Ben Farhat can’t help but point out the irony in witnessing Tunisian journalists teaming up with security personnel to fight terrorism. “One is confronting terrorism with  his pen and the second with his revolver.”