In Tunisia, press freedom erodes amid security fears - Committee to Prot... 3 of 21 https://cpj.org/reports/2015/10/in-tunisia-press-freedom-erodes-amid-sec... who purport to �ght terrorism—a common predicament for journalists globally, CPJ has found. Regulatory disputes in a fraught political environment and unwillingness by some media owners and editors to publish investigations or harsh commentary have further restricted the ability of Tunisian journalists to carry out their work. “Before January 2011, the �rst enemy of media was tyranny. Today, the media is threatened by all kinds of powers: political, social, �nancial, cultural, and judicial,” said Zied El-Heni, journalist and president of the independent Tunisian Organization to Protect Journalists. In 2011, after the collapse of the 24-year dictatorship of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s transitional government adopted Decree 115, which contained 80 articles regulating freedom of information and of expression. While the idea of a law to regulate the press was not universally welcomed by international media freedom groups— most democracies do not have a press code—the decree was largely seen by Tunisian journalists and press freedom advocates as an improvement to the country’s legal system. 1/27/2025, 12:23 PM