[ecrea] Call for proposal- Media in the tunisian transition towards democracy

*MEDIA IN THE TUNISIAN TRANSITION *
*TOWARDS DEMOCRACY*
*Call for proposals*
**
/International conference – May, 28^th -30^th 2015/
/Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain - Tunis, Tunisia///
In the context of democratic transitions, media are known for being a
key influential factor for political change, contributing at building
solid democratic roots as much as the adoption of a new Constitution,
the instauration of transitional justice, elections holding, or
political elites renewal. Many works dedicated to the role of media in
transitional processes aim at analysing their contribution to
democratisation building. These roles are evaluated through the
normative functions that – in fact or in theory – we ascribe them in
democratic systems. Thus, media are expected to perform a “watchdog”
role by controlling governmental actions, or acting so as to enforce
elites’ accountability. It is also essential that they participate to
the holding of pluralistic debates regarding public issues, which should
lead to the emergence of new opportunities of dialogue between
antagonistic opinions in the public space. Media should also foster and
promote a civic culture and values in line with democratic principles.
Scholars often mobilized these functions enabling them to target what
misguides the media transition, or curbs it. This eventually leads to
the evaluation of media’s contribution in the evolution phase from an
autocratic system towards the State of Law. To fulfil these functions,
media should have already committed themselves to reform processes for
which they are both the object (e.g.: Law reforms, international aid
programs, etc.) and the agents (internal restructuration, new
professional practices, etc.). However, these reforms conflict with the
on-going heritage of the former regime, and against the backdrop of
structural uncertainties concerning professional legitimacies and
symbolic representations.
IRMC international conference aims at questioning the conditions and the
logics of Tunisian media’s evolution during the transitional process.
They can be analysed through four essential dimensions of modern media
systems, as defined by Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini[1]
<https://fr-mg42.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=bttlqeu5njnnc#_ftn1>.
Namely, these dimensions are 1) the degree and nature of State
intervention in the field of media; 2) “Political Parallelism”, i.e. the
degrees of autonomy and interdependence between political spheres and
media staff; 3) the restructuration of media markets; 4) the
(re)professionalization of journalists.
These four dimensions have been designed for the study of media systems
evolving in stabilized politico-institutional environments. The goal of
this conference is to resort to these dimensions – each of them being
dedicated to a specific panel – and to question through them the
Tunisian media transition. Participants are invited to contribute to
these panels by problematizing their object in terms of breaches and
continuities and, if possible, foreseeing the consequences that
conflicts between new legitimacies and older ones could have on the
evolution of the Tunisian media field.
**
*Axis 1*
*The degree and nature of State intervention in the Tunisian field of media*
**
Under the rule of Zine al-‘Abidin Ben Ali, the media field was submitted
to the wishes and desires of the ruling elite. Its development was
contingent upon its members’ economic predations, and upon the State
propaganda’s outlines. With the transition, the Tunisian State is
expected to play a new role in arbitrating and regulating the media
sector. The objective of this panel is to analyse the conditions and
practicalities of the regime change, and the logics surrounding the
reconfiguration of the media field. What is at stake is the definition
of the right place that the State should hold, and the degree and nature
of its intervention in the media system, particularly in the fields of
Legislation (Press Code, adjustments in the Penal Code), professional
framework (regulation authorities, Unions, etc.), or information
production (national radios and newspapers, State news agency, national
T.V.)
What political choices have been made in Tunisia in order to clarify the
relationships between political factions, economic forces, and the
media? What orientations have been adopted for the regulation of the
sector? On which ideological references have been founded the post-2011
public policies in the media sector? Which reforms have been adopted to
come up with an information system which is definitely oriented towards
the public? And according to which definition of the public service?
**
*Axis 2*
*“Political Parallelism”: autonomies and interdependences between media
sector and political spheres*
**
Borrowing the expression of “political parallelism” from Hallin and
Mancini, this panel aims at questioning the autonomy of the media
vis-à-vis political spheres, as well as their interdependence
relationships. Analysing these relationships implies identifying the
different orientations taken by Tunisian journalism and the role it has
been fulfilling under the successive regimes and counter-powers. This
can notably be reached by producing the epistemic model of journalistic
practices and ideals.
What have been the main journalistic traditions in Tunisia, from
independence to the 2011 revolutionary movement? How, through its
evolution, has the Tunisian media system incorporated conflicting
political loyalties? What are the new journalistic models appearing
after January 14^th 2011, due to the emergence of post-revolutionary
legitimacies?
With former regime’s fall, emergent or resurgent political actors have
been able to confront their views in the media public sphere.
While acknowledging the readjustment of the Tunisian political scene,
this panel aims at exploring the relationships existing between
newcomers and Tunisian media. What are the connections observable
between media and political parties and where do they stem from? Have
distanciation processes of journalists and political actors been
unfolding after the so-called “revolution”? **
**
*Axis 3*
*The structure of Tunisian media market*
**
In the context of recurrent tumultuous controversies and the
disappearance of media control apparatus, new media outlets, radio
stations, and T.V. channels have been created. Thus, new actors have
seized the opportunity to invest on the media market. Some of them have
disappeared, as they were unable to find their audience, or to create a
sustainable economic model. On the basis of this assessment, this panel
aims at questioning the effects and opportunities of post-revolutionary
dynamics in the structuration of this market. To which extent can we
assess market restructuration in this field? By which political and
legislative means did new media emerge? Which audiences have they
targeted? How to analyse the sustainability of some operators and the
disappearance of others?
Transitions towards democracy also go along with the renewing of
relationships between media and their public. Indeed, some
characteristic features about audiences have been either ignored or
prohibited by censorship and propaganda system under the former regime.
In the case of Tunisia, to what extent can we attest of a genuine
reorientation of media industries in their audience relationships? Can
the evolution of the audience-rating market in Tunisia be seen as an
effect of the transitional context? And how does this evolution
condition a new relationship with audiences?
**
*Axis 4*
*(Re)professionalization of the Tunisian journalism*
**
The question of journalistic (re)professionalization is highly relevant
in a transitional context, considering the control imposed on this
sector of activity under former regime. In the case of Tunisia,
controlling journalists has contributed fostering practices which have
to come to an end. This rupture unfolds on the backdrop of a crisis
hitting professional representations; a crisis through which actors are
confronting by mobilizing new norms and new legitimacies. How does this
imperative of rupture occur in practice? What are the models of “good
journalism” that are now valued by Tunisian journalists? Which norms and
standards have been imported to Tunisia, notably through the
international media assistance? To which extent are they consistent with
the Tunisian realities? Have these norms and standards been subjected to
local adaptations or have they been fully rejected?
With the regime change and the liberalization of the media sector, new
media called either “citizen media” or “alternative media” have emerged
in Tunisia, especially in the areas where the press has been
purposefully underdeveloped. How did “authorized” upholders of Tunisian
journalism behave towards these newcomers? Did they adopt strategies to
lock up the journalists’ professional territory? Or did they integrate
them as new competences that could strenghten the journalistic
profession? In other words, have these new margins been included to the
profession’s fields of competence, or not?
*Time Schedule*
Proposals in *Political sciences, Media studies, Sociology, Law studies,
History, Anthropology*, are expected by *April, 20^th 2015*, either in
English, French, or Arabic (4000 characters).
Proposals should be emailed to the two following email addresses:
Enrique Klaus: (enrique.klaus /at/ irmcmaghreb.org)
<mailto:(enrique.klaus /at/ irmcmaghreb.org)>
Olivier Koch: (koches1 /at/ yahoo.fr) <mailto:(koches1 /at/ yahoo.fr)>
The proposals’ approval will be communicated by *April, 30^th 2015*.
The conference will take place between *May, 28^th -30^th 2015* in Tunis.
Articles for the forthcoming publication in both English and French will
be subject to a double-blind review process.
*/Simultaneous translation will be available during the whole conference./*
**
**
*Scientific Committee*
*Adbel BENCHENNA*– Université Paris 13
*Bertrand CADEBOCHE*– Université Stendhal Grenoble 3
*Riadh FERJANI*– Institut Supérieur des Arts Multimédias de la Manouba,
Tunis
*Abdelkrim HIZAOUI*– IPSI, Tunis
*Olfa LAMLOUM*– International Alert
*Dominique MARCHETTI*– CNRS, Centre Jacques Berque.
*Tristan MATTELART*– Université Paris 8
*Imed MELLITI*– IRMC, Université de Tunis El Manar
*Katrin VOLTMER*– Université de Leeds
*Ben WAGNER*– European University Viadrina
*Organisation***
*Enrique Klaus*– Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC)
*Olivier Koch*– Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC)
/ Laboratoire des sciences de l’information et de la communication
(LABSIC, Paris 13)
*Clément Perarnaud*– Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain
(IRMC)
**
*Indicative Bibliography*
Banegas R., « Les transitions démocratiques : mobilisations collectives
et fluidité politique », /Culture et conflits/, 12, 1993
Chouikha L., « L’audiovisuel en Tunisie: une libéralisation fondue dans
le moule étatique », /L’Année du Maghreb/, CNRS Éditions, 2006
Dobry M., « Les voies incertaines de la transitologie : choix
stratégiques, séquences historiques, bifurcations et processus de /path
dependance/ », /Revue française de science politique/, 50^e année, 4-5, 2000
El Bour H. (dir.), /Médias publics arabes et transitions
démocratiques//, Tunis, Institut de Presse et des Sciences de
l’Information/, Tunis, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, 2013
Hallin D.C., Mancini P., /Comparing media systems/, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 2004
Harvey M. (dir.), /Media Matters, Perspectives on advancing governance
and development from the global forum for media development/, Internews
Europe, 2009
Jakubowicz K., Sükösd M. (dir.), /Finding the right place on the map:
central and eastern european media change in a global perspective/,
Bristol, IntellectBooks, 2008
Norris P. (dir.), /Public sentinel, news media and governance reform/,
Washington, World Bank, 2010
Price M.E., Rozumilowicz B., Verhulst S.G., (dir.), /Media Reform:
Democratizing the Media, Democratizing the State/, Londres, Routledge, 2002
Randal V. (dir.), /Democratization and the media//, New York/, Franck
Cass Publishers, 2005.
Voltmer K.,  “Comparing media systems in new democracies: East meets
south meets west”, /Central European Journal of Communication/, 1, 2008
Voltmer K., /The media in transitional democracies/, Cambridge, Polity
press, 2013

------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]
<https://fr-mg42.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=bttlqeu5njnnc#_ftnref1>Hallin 

D.C., Mancini P., /Comparing Media Systems/, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 2004



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