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Press freedom
Tunisian press coupons misleading the press * Most of us remember the 'Iraqi oil coupons' scandal during early 2004, which included a number of journalists and prominent figures in Egypt and another fifty countries. The scandal claimed that the Iraqi Parliament had offered millions of petrol barrels in reward for those personalities that supported the former Iraqi regime. Regardless of whether these claims were true or not, it is confirmed that the Tunisian government, known to be the largest tyrant these days, has acquired this experience and developed it, creating what we know today as the "Tunisian Embassies' Coupons". Through these coupons, promotion articles are published, presenting paid advertisement as news stories written in an ambiguous style, indicating to the reader that what is published is a reliable press release. However, in reality these articles are nothing less than false images of miserable circumstances in Tunisia. While the most famous Arab prisoner of opinion, Mohamed Abbou, and hundreds of others are imprisoned in Tunisia, these articles are published with headlines such as, "Freedom of Expression and advancement of Human Rights Principles …" or "The State of Law … Freedom of Expression"! Imagine how would Tunisian citizens - who are overwhelmed with terror as a result of the practices of the Tunisian security bureaus, which does not refrain from framing cases against journalists, torturing them, and distorting their reputation - feel when they find in popular and respectable Egyptian newspapers contributions to falsely embellish the Tunisian government. This reached an extent that some Tunisian citizens, now, believe that the publishing of such promotion articles indicates a new crime committed against Tunisian journalists or human rights activists, viewing promotion articles as a tool to cover up a crime being committed. Such articles violate both Egyptian and international professional codes of ethics, as they confuse paid advertisement with editorial material. In addition, they reduce the credibility of newspapers that publish them. These articles also encourage many journalists to seek the satisfaction of the Tunisian embassy by giving a blind eye to what is really happening in Tunisia, in an attempt to win these highly paid for misleading advertisements. The matter becomes more complicated when Egyptian newspapers defend the Tunisian government which violates the right to freedom of expression and punish journalists because of their work, while at the same time they are fighting the Egyptian government to stop imprisoning journalists for their writings. As a result, the issue has become ambiguous, raising an important question: Is it righteous to defend freedom of press in a country while at the same time join together with another government in another country that violates freedom of press? Gamal Eid Lawyer and Executive Director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) ----------------------------- * An article published in the independent weekly Al-Dostur newspaper entitled: "Tunisian Press Coupons: When a campaign to embellish the Tunisian government starts in the Egyptian Press, Tunisians expect a catastrophe!" |
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