Description
The nahdawi role in Tunisian society, since the Thawra, has been of international relevance. In media discourses, it was constructed by connecting it to traditionalism, terrorism and corruption. France24’s (F24) coverage of the 2014 Tunisian elections displayed an opposition between Ennahda, whose Political Islam ideology was constructed as a threat to women, the revolution and the region, and Nidaa Tounes, a secularist party portrayed as a “Westernized” resistance towards the former. Considering the post-Thawra period, the fear of the nahdawi political Islam was noticeable in F24’s narratives. This tendency and the weight of internal politics led to a change in Ennahda’s discourses, moving its ideology from Political Islam to Muslim Democracy. In recent years, the rise of Kaïs Saïed and his self-coup led commentators to a strategic discursive alliance with Ennahda, the main objector of the president. Through French Discourse Analysis and a constructivist approach, the proposed paper discusses the ways in which the media, represented here by F24, elaborates its engagement towards Political Islam. Selecting relevant news from the period of Saïed’s self-coup, the article aims to discuss how cultural ignorance, Islamophobia and national interests combine to display a self-interested media discourse around nahdawi Political Islam.
