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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Between democracy and IS terrorism: Challenges for journalism in Tunisia</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Terrorist attacks, religious conflicts, civil war – the Arab world is in turmoil. Whereas the region from Libya to Iraq suffers from extreme tensions and deadly conflict, Tunisia is considered as the one positive example for a democratic transition in the region. The same is true for press freedom: According to the most recent press freedom index by „Reporters without borders“, the situation for journalists in Tunisia has continuously improved since the ouster of long-time dictator Ben Ali in 2011 (rank in 2016: 96) and scores better than for example the crisis-ridden Egypt (rank 159) or Turkey (rank 151).</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">The project “Ombudspeople in Tunisia” aims at supporting this development. It is funded by the German Foreign Office and organized by the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism (EBI). Since 2014, the EBI together with Mena Media Monitoring (MMM) supports Tunisian ombudsmen and offers inter alia training and networking opportunities. This also resulted in the publication of a handbook for ombudspeople in Arabic. The EBI intents to strengthen media self-regulation in Tunisia and by this to secure press freedom in the young democracy.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">In September 2016 a group of ten Tunisian ombudspeople was welcomed to a one-week workshop in Dortmund and Paris by the project team. In Dortmund, the group reflected their tasks and roles together with the well-experienced French ombudsmen Jean-Pierre Constantin (Radio France International) and Nicolas Jacobs (France 2) as well as the Morrocan ombudswoman Zouhour Himmich (SNRT). The Tunisians collected and discussed incidents reflecting their work realities as ombudsmen and reported about sometimes difficult negotiations with their audience, colleagues and supervisors.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">In Paris, the Tunisian ombudspeople met more of their French colleagues and gained impression of their daily work when visiting the newsrooms of different broadcasting stations like France 2 or France 24. Also, they had the opportunity to follow the preparation and recording of the monthly TV show “Votre télé et vous” hosted by the French ombudswoman Marie-Laure Augry (France 3).</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">The Tunisian participants returned to Tunis and the southern provinces of the country having in mind precise ideas of their next steps as ombudspeople. Their to-do-lists include the discussion with colleagues and the audience and the preparation of radio spots to introduce themselves to the public. Everybody involved in the project hopes for a further fruitful exchange between Germany, Tunisia, France and Morocco.</font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Contact:</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism (EBI), TU Dortmund</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Nadia Leihs</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">0231/755-6987</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">leihs@gmx.de</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">www.brost.org</font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Additional information:</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Radio France: Le médiateur de Radio France recoit ses homologues tunisiens. Online: http://mediateur.radiofrance.fr/non-classe/mediateur-de-radio-france-recoit-homologues-tunisiens/</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">France Info: Votre Télé et vous: Médias et Terrorisme : comment Informer sans Glorifier? Online: http://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-magazine/france-3/votre-tele-et-vous/votre-tele-et-vous-du-mercredi-21-septembre-2016_1824283.html</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">Erich-Brost-Institut, April 2016: Link: http://www.brost.org/?id=256</span></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">Mena Media Monitoring, July 2015, http://www.awgmm.org/en/content/pilot-project-media-accountability-tunisia (Arabic: http://www.awgmm.org/ar/content/</span></font><font face="Times New Roman, serif">المشروع</font><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">-</span></font><font face="Times New Roman, serif">النموذجي</font><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">-</span></font><font face="Times New Roman, serif">المتعلق</font><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">-</span></font><font face="Times New Roman, serif">بمسائلة</font><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">-</span></font><font face="Times New Roman, serif">وسائل</font><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">-</span></font><font face="Times New Roman, serif">الإعلام</font><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">-</span></font><font face="Times New Roman, serif">في</font><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">-</span></font><font face="Times New Roman, serif">تونس</font><font face="Times New Roman, serif"><span lang="en-US">) </span></font></p>
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