Tunisian media scrutinised during elections
Over the coming weeks, Tunisian media coverage of the country’s two upcoming elections will be monitored closely to promote professional journalistic standards.
By measuring and analysing the media coverage of the elections taking place in October and November, the monitoring will examine how nine daily newspapers, four news websites and the national news agency TAP cover political parties and candidates, electoral debates and the elections days.
The findings and analyses will be shared with the media to foster debate among journalists, editors, owners and other media stakeholders on the quality of the elections coverage and to promote professional standards within newsrooms across the country.
Tunisia’s parliamentary election is set for 26 October and a subsequent presidential election is set for 23 November. This makes the coming weeks a crucial time for the Tunisian media to provide citizens with professional analyses and accurate information about their electoral choices and the election process.
The two elections mark the beginning of another important political phase in Tunisia, after elections held in October 2011 to appoint members of the National Constituent Assembly and the adoption of a new Constitution on 26 January 2014.
Over 13,000 candidates are vying for the 217 seats in the National Assembly. Approximately 5.2 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the two elections.
The monitoring is conducted by a consortium of Tunisian civil society groups, coordinated by IMS’ partner, the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) and overseen by the Arab Working Group for Media Monitoring (AWG-MM). The monitoring project is carried out as part of IMS’ work in Tunisia under the Danish-Arab Partnership Programme.
