The Tunisian political transition has succeeded in building a working, yet fragile governance beyond ideological and political divides. Political debate across media platforms has become open and dynamic, but the media–politics nexus thrives within a complex system of clientelism forged on shifting alliances between politicians and business tycoons, including recapture by agents of the former regime. The media–politics interplay is taking competitive and antagonistic forms, effectively exacerbating polarized conflicts. This paper reflects on the notions of hybrid media systems, agonistic pluralism, and civic culture, based on data collected in a focus group conducted in Tunis in May 2019 that brought together representatives from media, politics, and civil society complemented by interviews with leading journalists and media stakeholders. This paper argues that the relationship between media and politics is interdependent and marked by confrontation and adaption; the uncertainty of the transition is leading to a complex and volatile power struggle in which neither media nor politics have the upper hand in defining the terms of the game. This ambivalent relationship, taking place within a new system of clientelism, has had a mixed outcome on the process of democratic consolidation.

突尼斯的政治过渡成功地建立了超越意识形态和政治分歧的有效但脆弱的治理。跨媒体平台的政治辩论变得开放和动态，但媒体与政治的联系在一个复杂的客户主义系统中蓬勃发展，这个系统是由政客和商业大亨之间不断变化的联盟形成的，包括被前政权的代理人重新夺回。媒体与政治的相互作用正在采取竞争和对抗的形式，有效地加剧了两极分化的冲突。本文基于 2019 年 5 月在突尼斯举行的焦点小组收集的数据，反思了混合媒体系统、对抗性多元主义和公民文化的概念，该小组汇集了来自媒体、政治和民间社会的代表，并辅以对主要记者的采访和媒体利益相关者。本文认为，媒体与政治的关系是相互依存的，以对抗和适应为特征；过渡的不确定性导致了一场复杂多变的权力斗争，在这场斗争中，媒体和政治在界定游戏条款方面都没有优势。这种矛盾的关系发生在新的附庸主义体系中，对民主巩固过程产生了好坏参半的结果。