Poll: I love the new TV channels!

A few weeks ago, during the In Amenas hostages crisis, audiences of foreign TV channels witnessed something very rare. These channels showed images provided by an Algerian TV channel, Ennahar TV. The private Algerian TV was the only to provide images of the gas plant, the Algerian military forces, etc.

The foreign public may not realise it but this is quite new to us Algerians.
Two years ago, the Algerian government agreed to let Algerian private operators create their TV channels. And like with many topics, the minister’s statement hasn’t been followed by the legislation, and the few private TV channels we have still transmit from outside the country.

Algerian TV nostalgia

A selection of clips I found on youtube, of Algerian TV programmes since independence. It is by no means exhaustive. Enjoy!

News & Political Analysis Programmes

Sample news bulletins from Octobre 1962 - 70s : one thing that stuck me in these clips is that they are all in black and white! (Joke) No it was actually that all presenters are men who look pissed off by what they’re reading. The only thing that has changed nowadays is that now, we’ve discovered that this phenomenon is not only restricted to Algerian male news-readers. I hesitated to use the word ‘presenters’ here for obvious reasons. Also, note how the presenter keeps referring to political leaders as ‘el akh‘ (literally brother but, if we take the polico-economic context of the time the actual meaning might be closer to comrade).

Poll: On new Algerian TV channels

Who still watches the Algerian television outside Ramadhan? Not many I am sure.

Depending on their supposed “ideology”, most Algerians do watch European French or Arab TV channels. So, if we consider news TV, the former would watch France24 and Euronews in French, and the latter would watch al Jazeera (not any more?), France24 or Euronews in Arabic (Algerians do not like al Arabiya, al Hurra, etc.). As to the generalist, movies and musical channels, you would have those watching French channels, and those watching their Arab competitors such as LBC, NBC, MBC, TBC, etc. (not sure all these channels do exist as I am not part of either groups). There is also another group which is probably a combination of the former ones and which watches some North-African channels, mainly Moroccan and Nesma TV.

The conclusion is nobody watches the Algerian channels, and they are so right about it. Forget the pre-90s period when everyone had to watch El yatima ENTV (I am a little nostalgic about this period which created a homogeneous Algerian mind with identical television souvenirs, but that’s another topic). Now we have Allah ibarek five state TV channels, but the quality has definitely degraded esp. if you compare with the late 80s and early 90s.

Does information management exist in Algeria?

In his new book, Michael Mewshaw included an interview of Thomas Daughton, the former Deputy Chief of Mission in the American embassy in Algiers. I haven’t read the book yet but, according to Echourouk, it seems that the diplomat lost his… diplomatic manners during this interview. He apparently openly criticised the Algerian state and people, and made sure he didn’t spare anyone. One of his comments, again according to Echourouk, was about the Algerian regime mindset which is still stagnating at the Soviets’ system model level.

I don’t know about this comparison, but the way the Algerian regime manages information looks outdated. I actually question the “management” and “information” association when we talk about Algeria. I am not even sure “information control” would fit. I in fact fail to see any coherence in the different strategies, if any, the Algerian rulers follow for this or that cases. It’s like they act according to what we call in Algerian “ennefha”, without any directing line. And it seems sometimes that they are stuck in the 70s or early 80s when we had a single ruling party and a single source of information (disinformation).

I’ll try to illustrate this through some examples, and if someone understands the logic or detects a strategy then please let me know.