The first round of trainings in French started in June, targeting media professionals from the National TV, French speaking print media, the regional radio station of Monastir and editors-in-chief of all media in Tunis. The second round, in Arabic, starts this Thursday and will be held until 21 July 2011. It is targeting specifically journalists and editors-in-chief of the regional radio stations of Le Kef, Sfax, Tataouine and Gafsa.

Tunisia is experiencing a transition towards democracy since January 2011. This movement has been marked by the abolition of the press and Internet censorship, synonymous of the former President Ben Ali regime. It goes without saying that over the last 23 years, the country has never had a transparent election process. According to the report of the Arab Working Group on Media Monitoring, in 2009 the allocation of airtime was unfair and the voice of the opponents to the regime was marginalized. Having in mind the reality of the Tunisian media sector, many political actors have expressed their fear to see the same situation being reproduced at the next electoral campaign.

Therefore the objective of this series of trainings is to offer Tunisian media professionals – both men and women – the opportunity to deepen their knowledge on the international standards and practices regarding election reporting in the democratic countries. The following topics are to be addressed during the training sessions: the notions of democracy, the role of media and the civil society during elections, political pluralism, journalism ethics, and freedom of expression.

Programme of trainings: