Arab Media during the Arab Spring in Egypt and Tunisia: Time for Change

摘要

“Change” and “Purification” are two key words you often hear nowadays among Egyptian and Tunisian journalists. For them, the revolution has not ended… it has just begun. Much as the Egyptian and the Tunisian people were eagerly waiting to overcome their fear of the police state, the journalists of both countries are now waiting for another seminal moment in the history of their profession. It is time to free the media from ex-regime allies. Tunisian media demonstrations succeeded in changing editorial teams on national television and newspapers while the ongoing Egyptian demonstrations are calling for the election of a new board for their association and to bring new blood to the stagnant national media. “It is a seminal moment in the history of our profession. Our media will only be purified and changed when ex-regime allies leave,” said Wael Abul Saoud of Akhbar Alyoum newspaper, during a demonstration opposite the Egyptian Cabinet’s headquarters in Cairo, calling for the firing of the editors-in-chief appointed by the former regime.