"At the time when the official media was absent, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogs were full of videos, images and timely coverage of events. World news agencies and satellite television channels were all also using the content published by these media and depend on it in preparing their reports and news coverage," al-Watan weekly editor Noureddine Mbarki said.

"Perhaps we won't be exaggerating when we confirm that these events were field applications of what has been known for years as 'new media' which makes use of modern communication. It's also an application of what some people call 'citizen-based media,' which means that each citizen can be a reporter of news and events," he added.

He added that "this has created the following picture: official media that is absent from events as if such events didn't exist in the first place, and a foreign media (satellite channels, news agencies, websites, magazines and newspapers) that reports what's going on based on their backgrounds and agendas; something that has created a major state of sympathy with them because they 'took on the burden of reporting the voice and demands of protestors' to the entire world."

According to Mbarki, "the Sidi Bouzid events have clearly shown that the file of media in Tunisia needs a serious stop because of its retracting performance and role, especially in view of the developments that are taking place in the means of communication and in view of the influence of the media in general on events and their course."

For his part, journalist Nasredine Ben Hadid refused to consider social networking sites a form of journalism.

"Rather, I consider it to be some sort of participation because it isn't subject to the minimum requirements of media characterisation. As far as the content is concerned, if we put aside evil intentions and attempted intentional fallacies by some people, the average citizen is unable to notice, describe, and therefore, report," he said.

During the period of crisis, many satellite television channels, such as Al Jazeera, depended on what Tunisian citizens posted on the internet despite the poor image quality.

There are over a million Facebook subscribers in Tunisia, representing roughly 11% of the country's population, compared to over 10 million mobile phones in the country, nearly equal to Tunisia's entire population.

"Today we have 1.5 million journalists via Facebook. This means that all barriers have been removed through this digital media, which is in fact a popular media that was able to penetrate to a biggest possible number of people," al-Shaab journalist and General Labour Union member Ghassan al-Kosaibi said.

"The blackout is over once and for all. What we want the traditional media to do is to keep pace", al-Kosaibi said. "I simply say 'goodbye' to blackout, but 'yes' to information, 'yes' to objectivity and 'no' to blackout, and 'no' to exaggeration."
For his part, Mahmoud al-Jadidi, an education official, believes that the media is no longer restricted to professionals.

"Rather, each owner of a computer has become a media man, reporter of news and rumours. We're at a time in which a rumour can become a fact as a result of its frequent circulation, speed of its reporting and dissemination, and difficulty of knowing its source," al-Jadidi said.