Tunis: On television and in the pages of Realites, an independent French-language newsmagazine that he edits, Zyed Krichen has emerged as one of the most vocal champions of the revolution that ousted Tunisia's longtime dictator and ignited the historic protests in the Middle East.
On blogs and Facebook pages, however, Krichen is under fire for what he didn't say. For years, some argue, Krichen remained silent while his magazine published uncritical, sometimes fawning stories about the dictatorship — including a particularly upbeat profile of a widely reviled presidential nephew in the early days of the uprising.
Seven months after the ouster of Tunisian President Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali, Tunisia's revolution remains far from complete, a fact that's embodied in an awkward feature of the new Tunisia: Nearly all of the editors and media personalities who worked under the old regime remain.
Impatience
And to the young and increasingly impatient supporters of the Tunisian revolution, that is a situation that shows how little has actual changed here since Bin Ali fled to Saudi Arabia January 14.
"No one of a different voice is running any media outlet since the revolution," said Riadh Ferjani, a professor of communication at the University of Tunis-Manouba. "All the public and private media are being led by people who were OK with the Bin Ali regime. Even if it's not the same individuals, they all belong to the same system."
Krichen, a journalist for 30 years, said he had to make compromises to ensure the survival of the magazine. Under Bin Ali's 23-year dictatorship, websites and books critical of the regime were banned; self-censorship was a matter of survival for journalists and broadcasters.
"I chose to work in this country, and therefore I accepted to work for a magazine that ran apologist stories in favour of the regime," the editor said.
Defending the regime
In December, days after Mohammad Bu Azizi set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid, Krichen wrote a two-page column in which he expressed sorrow for the incident and criticised state media for failing to cover it.
But he absolved Bin Ali's regime of blame in the episode.
The reaction online was scathing — and it got worse for Krichen after he began appearing on television as a political commentator following Bin Ali's resignation.
Many Tunisians felt that Krichen couldn't cast himself credibly as on the side of the revolutionaries.
Other veteran media figures have also come in for derision. What that means is that those who support change in the country are still looking for media figures who represent them.
— Christian Science Monitor
