Lazy journalism threatens Tunisia

They say a lie can be half way around the world while the truth is still getting its boots on. As the murder of leftist politician Chokri Belaid and the subsequent resignation of the prime minister last month left Tunisians reeling in shock, a number of exaggerated news reports with shaky sourcing seemed designed to feed fears of a breakdown in security nationwide. As with all the best disinformation, the news items were based on a real phenomenon: even before the January 2011 revolution, some Tunisian activists, mainly young Salafists, engaged in “armed jihad” abroad. Belaid had been an outspoken critic of the moderate Islamist party Nahda, which for the previous year had headed a three-party coalition government. He was among those Tunisians who charged that Nahda was being lax with Salafist extremists. Many Tunisians believed the obvious culprits in his killing were such extremists; some even claimed that Nahda