COPEAM-EBU Round Table “Towards a road map for a media transition in Tunisia”
Tunis, 23 June 2011
Preparing the ground for a concrete public audiovisual service at the age of democratic change in Tunisia, this was the object of the round table organized in Tunis by COPEAM and EBU.
The meeting - addressed to the public broadcasters working for the media transition in this country - gathered journalists, high representatives, jurists and managers of the Tunisian Television, the Tunisian Radioand TAP (Agence Tunis Afrique Presse) and was attended by experts of the Institut Panos, representatives of the Anna Lindh Foundation, CFI, BBC, the Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation, the EU Delegation in Tunisia and the Alliance of Civilisations.
The participants debated over the actions to be undertaken with a view to realizing the transition towards plurality of information and press freedom.
They also highlighted the necessity for the Tunisian television and radio to move from State services to real public services for all the citizens, thus enabling a concrete democratization within these media sectors. This is a fundamental process, although a complex one, as they acknowledged.
During the meeting, an anticipation of the study carried out by the Institut Panos over the situation of Arab media within the region was presented. The importance of proximity televisions, which would 
increasingly involve all the segments of the society, was recalled, and the link between pluralism and ethics was underlined.
Moreover, the representatives of the Tunisian radio and television shared their ambitions, their expectations and their needs, in particular with regard to equipment and training.
The works were concluded by an agreement, among all the partners, on the continuation of the joint work in effectively supporting the public audiovisual service in its efforts to rebuild its credibility within its public. This should be pursued through a wider opening towards the civil society, starting from the democratic and pluralistic coverage of the upcoming elections, on 23 October 2011.
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