Tunisia and Freedom of Expression

My constitutional law teacher liked to say that if you stripped the United States of most of its laws, right down to the bone, the one law that absolutely couldn't go was the First Amendment.  That makes sense to me, which is why Tunisia is so interesting:  There's no First Amendment in Tunisia; not even close.  The newspapers print propoganda, and the people won't speak openly about their government -- period.  Most businesses prominently display the image of the president, even though nobody seems especially fond of him.  Everybody seemed to regard the presidential election as either a charade or a minor annoyance.  Tunisians have nothing remotedly approaching the freedom of expression Americans take for granted.

And yet... things seem okay in Tunisia.  There's a large middle class.  People seem to live comfortable lives in and out of the big cities.  Businesses are functioning; tourists keep on coming.  People are fairly free to live their lives and do what they please.

Maybe this is just a veneer, but it's a pretty effective one.  I had heard of Tunisia's constraints on freedom of expression before I arrived, and I was on the lookout for the effects of these constraints.  But they weren't easy to find.  I'd be very interested to learn from those more familiar with Tunisia exactly what the effects are.