Ennahda: Nessma Crossed the Line

Myriam Ben Ghazi | 10 October 2011 | 2 Comments

logo of Ennahda and Nessma

After the demonstrations against Nessma TV that took place yesterday, October 9^th, at various locations in downtown Tunis and some inland regions, all eyes were pointed at Ennahda and anticipating the Islamic party’s reaction to the events. So far, Ennahda has accused Nessma of being biased and of playing dirty games only two weeks before the elections.

Tunisia Live met with Noureddine El Bhiri, Head of the Political Office of Ennahda, to learn more about the reaction of Ennahda.

According to Mr. Bhiri, Nessma crossed the line by airing something that attacked the beliefs of Muslims. ”We were shocked when Nessma presented such a film — this is an obvious provocation to all believers, not only to Muslims,” he said. Unlike many other Tunisian political parties, which accused the protesters against Nessma of extremism and of threatening the freedom of expression and artistic creativity, Ennahda considered “Persepolis” to be too inappropriate to be presented to an Arabic audience. Mr. Bhiri went even further and described it as another form of “prostitution.”

Noureddine Bhiri

According to Mr. Bhiri, the film is not a work of art and does not represent artistic creativity in any way. In Bhiri’s opinion, presenting the film was only an attempt from Nessma to spread chaos among Tunisians, and this is not acceptable. “We consider what Nessma is doing as verbal violence. And we absolutely refuse it,” he asserted.

Moreover, Nessma went rogue and ignored all the rules set by the government and by the Independent High Authority for the Elections (ISIE) — at least according to Ennahda’s Head of Political Office. Bhiri elaborated: “Nessma keeps insisting on not following the laws and defying the rules…Although ISIE banned political advertisements, Nessma is still doing so.”

Although Nessma breached the electoral law it has been never warned when other media outlet was shut for the same reason.

Bhiri next went on to allege that the TV channel was opposed to his party, specifically. “Nessma is not only breaching electoral laws, it is also attacking and sabotaging us, as if they were running and competing for the elections [themselves]…We don’t understand Nessma’s insistence on playing the role of a political party when it is not supposed to,” claimed Bhiri. He further alleged that Nessma TV does not respect the ethics of politics or of journalism.

“I have proof that Nessma is leading a media campaign against us. They go around asking [various] people, but they never air anyone who advocates for us. If they were not intending to harm our reputation, why don’t they air both people who are with and who are against Ennahda…Why is Nessma involving itself in this electoral mess? It’s not a party to stand against us or to promote the Democratic Modernist Pole (PDM),” Bhiri contended.

On the other hand, Mr. Bhiri stated clearly that Ennahda does not encourage violence against Nessma and considered the attack attempt against the channel “unacceptable.” “We are completely against the use of violence for any reason, and we don’t see violence as the solution for any sort any sort of issue,” commented Bhiri.

Ennahda believes that it is not citizens’ role to convict and punish Nessma. “We call for ISIE to take a firm decision against these behaviors and not to allow any further law breaching,” asserted Bhiri. Instead, Mr. Bhiri advised fellow Tunisians to avoid the channel, claiming that boycotting the television station was the best solution to deal with such unethical media.