Besma Essoussi and Sarra Fourti, journalists working together to change attitudes

It's "D" day! The Paralympic Games begin today in Paris and, as part of CFI's Paris Médias 2024 project, Besma Essoussi and Sarra Fourti will be covering this global event for Radio ML (Média Libre, a Tunisian community radio station). It's an opportunity to live in close contact with the athletes and provide a different view of these champions in their quest for Paralympic medals. 

A well-honed partnership. Besma Essoussi, a dynamic presenter who is almost completely blind, and Sarra Fourti, her manager at Radio ML (Média Libre, a Tunisian community radio station), are delighted to be teaming up for the Paralympic Games in Paris. "With Besma, we are very complementary. She's a very professional person and very comfortable in interviews , while I'm a more technical person," opens Sarra. "Ally and partner, Sarra has always been the eyes of my shows. When I found out that we'd be covering the Paralympic Games in Paris, it was like being awarded a gold medal! It's both a reward and a great responsibility to try and provide a different view", continues Besma.

Since it was founded, Radio ML provides a different view of people with disabilities throughout the year. After learning from her father as a teenager, who founded Radio 6, the oldest free radio station in Tunis, Sarra Fourti remembers: "We obtained a free licence for our radio station by a stroke of luck in 2015 and launched on 3 December to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I was at engineering school at the time. I didn't have much time or energy, but my dad told me that it was an opportunity that shouldn't be missed." At first, Radio ML broadcast just two hours of music a day, but then it began to produce shows and found its audience:  18,000 to 30,000 listeners a day, making it the eighth largest radio station in Tunis by 2023. "In 2016, at the Rio Games, we were the only station to broadcast a show where we called the athletes and reported back on the results. At the next Games, all the radio stations gave them coverage!", reports Sarra.

A bond with the Paralympic athletes that Besma has continued to strengthen in her "Sourire d'Espoir" show. "Mum follows their preparation. She is deeply moved by their stories due to her own disability (editor's note: retinitis pigmentosa, a serious hereditary disease that is gradually making her go blind) and talks openly about how they overcome the obstacles in their way. She has experienced this marginalisation herself and tries to encourage the athletes. They tell her that she is a role model for them" says Amira Amemou, one of Besma's daughters, with pride.

"Equal opportunities"

Besma and Sarra have both been passionate about sport since they were children. Besma was into basketball and athletics, and then walking. Sarra was a dancer, and then a keen viewer of "almost all sports" at the recent Olympic Games in Paris. When they are on site as part of the Paris Médias 2024 project, the two enthusiasts already have some ideas about how they will cover the Paralympic Games. "With Besma, we're going to air a show every day to give the latest news. We'll also be sending our team in Tunis audio and video interviews for radio and social media," explains Sarra Fourti, manager at Radio ML.

Its host, Besma Essoussi, was quick to jump at the opportunity: "Being in Paris will allow us to showcase the achievements of our athletes. Sport could change how people think and generate equal opportunities, in particular through financial autonomy and increased rights, especially for women with disabilities." Mohamed Mzoughi, President of the Tunisian Paralympic Committee, is also hoping to change attitudes: "In some families in Tunisia, children with disabilities have to stay at home and just take their medication. However, we have heard from athletes who explain that sport has helped them to rediscover a sense of purpose and find their place in society."

Portrait by Emmanuel de Solère Stintzy

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