La Presse de Tunisie as propaganda for Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's government to having editorial independence from the government. However, the owner of the daily is the government of Tunisia, more specifically the state-owned company SNIPE. In addition, the president of the paper, Mohammad Nejib Ouerghi, worked for state-owned newspapers before the deportion of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. La Presse de Tunisie La Presse, founded in 1934, is a large-circulation French-language daily newspaper published in Tunis, Tunisia. "La Presse de Tunisie" was founded in 1934 by Henri Smadja, a Tunisian and French Jewish doctor and lawyer, born in Tunisia, who went on
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali attaché in Tunisian embassy of Morocco and Spain before being appointed General Director of National Security in 1977. In April 1980, Ben Ali was appointed ambassador to Poland, and served in that position for four years. He also served as the military intelligence chief from 1964 to 1974 and later Director General of national security between December 1977 and 1980 until he was appointed as Minister of Defense. Soon after the Tunisian bread riots in January 1984, he was reappointed director-general of national security. Ben Ali subsequently served as Minister of State in charge of the interior before being appointed