Tunis: A scientific symposium on tension environments and their impact on democratic coexistence took place Saturday in Tunis on the initiative of the Awfia Coalition for Democracy and Transparent Elections.
Participants unanimously said there is a “general crisis” affecting the media, social networks and the political sphere on the internet. This crisis has an impact on democratic coexistence, they said.
Coalition Programme Manager Brahim Zoghlami said monitoring hate speech on social media during the local elections unveiled a multidimensional crisis. This crisis found explicit expression in media coverage which, he added, failed to be “professional.”
This is due to the “lack of professionalism” and reflects an attempt to instrumentalise media , he added.
Zoghlami said Decree-Law No. 54 which, he called “catastrophic” for the media and the freedom of expression, could also be one of the reasons. It resulted in journalists and citizens, in general, to censor themselves, particularly on social media.
Soc
iology Professor Adel Ayari said rhetorical violence has been observed over the recent years in the speech of political players.
“The extensive use of these terms has become a tool of political analysis and interaction for all parties, ” he said. Verbal violence has become a context in which we live and by which we are influenced, said the member of academia.
Risks entailed by such violence are no longer limited to media but also cover social media supports and platforms, Adel Ayari highlighted.
A study conducted by the Awfia Coalition last February 2-4 revealed that “violent terms on the Internet are used by an entire generation (aged between 20 and 45), which shows that this phenomenon is not spontaneous but is the result of a systematic policy over decades which has stifled communication and awareness raising from school onwards, and limiting discussions to marginal topics that cannot contribute to creating a generation that respects differences and is capable of using tools of peaceful debate”.
Sourc
e: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse