A Historical Account of Mass Media in Algeria
Mass media in Algeria: a historical account
- Several problems face the researchers in this domain • Lack of documents. • Absence of archives & materials. According to a researcher “the first difficulty that we encountered in our research was the documents and the newspapers collections. The complaints about this problem by the interested researchers are unanimous. The newspaper collections are dispersed, incomplete or do not exist at all, most of the time there are no archives, and if we discover them in official libraries – and also sometimes with some families, scientists, professionals, men of politics- they are not indexed”.
- History of journalism and mass media in Algeria goes back to 1830 (French colonization). o They introduced press to communicate with the metropolis. o To inform the settlers. o To diffuse their ideology among the Algerians. - Early communication in Algeria was primitive & traditional.
• Face to face Made by imams. • Religious sermons tribe chiefs, teachers, merchants…… • Ceremonies. [In mosques, market place, coffee house.] - Three main forces in Algeria. o French government in France. o The settlers in Algeria. o The indigenous population. - The 3 categories led to the immergence of 5 types of press from 1830-1862.
The government press.
The colonial press
The indigenophile press
The indigenous press
The nationalist press
1- The government press: - French government spokesman - Addressed French soldiers, settlers, Algerian indigenes. - Transmit government decisions, policies law and regulations. 2- the colonial press - addressed to the French settlers, the French civilians in Algeria and the public opinion in the metropolis. - It ignored the “indigenes” population. - It down played the religious, cultural, history and patrimony of the Algerians.
- Several problems face the researchers in this domain • Lack of documents. • Absence of archives & materials. According to a researcher “the first difficulty that we encountered in our research was the documents and the newspapers collections. The complaints about this problem by the interested researchers are unanimous. The newspaper collections are dispersed, incomplete or do not exist at all, most of the time there are no archives, and if we discover them in official libraries – and also sometimes with some families, scientists, professionals, men of politics- they are not indexed”.
- History of journalism and mass media in Algeria goes back to 1830 (French colonization). o They introduced press to communicate with the metropolis. o To inform the settlers. o To diffuse their ideology among the Algerians. - Early communication in Algeria was primitive & traditional.
• Face to face Made by imams. • Religious sermons tribe chiefs, teachers, merchants…… • Ceremonies. [In mosques, market place, coffee house.] - Three main forces in Algeria. o French government in France. o The settlers in Algeria. o The indigenous population. - The 3 categories led to the immergence of 5 types of press from 1830-1862.
The government press.
The colonial press
The indigenophile press
The indigenous press
The nationalist press
1- The government press: - French government spokesman - Addressed French soldiers, settlers, Algerian indigenes. - Transmit government decisions, policies law and regulations. 2- the colonial press - addressed to the French settlers, the French civilians in Algeria and the public opinion in the metropolis. - It ignored the “indigenes” population. - It down played the religious, cultural, history and patrimony of the Algerians.