The paper explores the crisis communicative strategies (CCs) that the former Tunisian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and the former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, used in response to the protests, which are considered as one of the most critical crises in their reigns. A content analysis was conducted to examine the three speeches each president delivered during the crisis event in order not only to protect their image but also to restore peace and order. The study aimed to address the following questions: What are the crisis response strategies they used to restore their (distorted) image? did these strategies change over the demonstration period? and are they appropriate to the crises? In so doing, the analysis probes the length as well as the number of words and sentences; the framing patterns that have been applied (logical vs. emotional), and the crisis communicative strategies applying Coombs’ (1999) communicative strategies model.
