DC Public Affairs Firm Dumped Tunisia Last Week

The Washington Media Group was hired to improve the autocratic regime’s image. Well, that didn’t work.

Tunis, Tunisia: Thousands of Tunisian demonstrators took to the streets of the capital before the president fled the country on Friday. | © Maxppp/ZUMAPRESS.com.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


A week before the Tunisian government collapsed on Friday, with its longtime dictator fleeing the country in the face of massive popular protests, a Washington, DC public relations firm that had been hired by the government abruptly severed its relationship the North African nation.

Last May, the Tunisian regime retained the Washington Media Group, which also represents private equity funds, aerospace companies, unions, and medical research companies, and banking giant Citigroup, to help promote its image abroad. In a press release announcing the contract, WMG referred to Tunisia as an “international business success story.” At the time, John Leary, a partner at WMG, described Tunisia as a “peaceful, Islamic country” and a “stable democracy” with a “terrific story to share with the world.” (Tunisia ranks 144th of 167 countries ranked on The Economist’s Democracy Index, a widely accepted measure of political freedom. But it’s farther ahead on some measures, such as women’s rights, than most of the Arab world.) The press release also claimed the deal highlighted “the firm’s demonstrated successes on behalf of clients small and large.”

The press release did note that Tunisia is an “important ally of the United States in combating global terrorism.” A US State Department cable released by WikiLeaks came to the same conclusion:

Notwithstanding the frustrations of doing business here, we cannot write off Tunisia. We have too much at stake. We have an interest in preventing al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other extremist groups from establishing a foothold here. We have an interest in keeping the Tunisian military professional and neutral. We also have an interest in fostering greater political openness and respect for human rights.

Before they took the contract, top officials at WMG consulted with advisers in the State Department and inside and outside of government. “It was clear that there was potential to help this ally in the war on terror improve its image, mostly through digital work,” Greg Vistica, the firm’s president, tells Mother Jones. In May, Vistica said his company was “delighted with this project.”

Eight months later, though, Vistica was not so delighted. Protests in Tunisia were gaining steam, and Vistica had changed his mind about working with the regime. Last Thursday he wrote to Samir Abidi, the Tunisian Minister of Communication, terminating WMG’s contract with the country. “It was clear to us that the Tunisia government was not going to implement the recommendations and work product we provided,” Vistica says. “We felt on principle we could not work for a government that shoots its own citizens and violates their civil rights with such abuse.”

In the letter [PDF], which was obtained by Mother Jones, Vistica told Abidi his team had “done our best,” but he didn’t mince words about why he was terminating the deal:

…It has been and remains our view that improving your nation’s image in the United States or elsewhere can only be accomplished if the reputation sought is consistent with the facts on the ground.

Recent events make it clear the Tunisian government is not inclined to heed our counsel regarding meaningful reforms. Indeed, the government’s current actions and activities have undermined, or in some cases completely undone, whatever progress we made in improving Tunisia’s reputation. 

For these reasons, and because we are troubled by your government’s apparent approach to important civil rights and civil liberties issues, Washington Media Group terminates its contract effective immediately. 

The letter was also filed with the Justice Department.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate