ALGIERS - Participants in the Memory Forum of the Algeria Press Service agency (APS) emphasized, on Wednesday, the importance of adapting national media messages to the perceptions of successive generations to preserve national memory, strengthen sovereign immunity, and counter disinformation campaigns.
During this new edition of the forum organized by APS at its headquarters, themed "The crimes of the French occupation as seen by Algerian media," which was attended by the representative of the Minister of Mujahideen and Rights-holders as well as historians, Dr. Meriem Dherbane, university professor in information and communication sciences at the Morsli Abdallah University Center in Tipaza, underlined that "national media are the extension of revolutionary media, being formed according to the same ethical principles."
She said that both public and private national media "should adapt their media messages according to the perceptions of successive generations by dealing with them, in particular, through the language and means that suit them, especially the current generation dominated by the use of social networks.
National media must "adopt a citizen discourse and be ready to face media disinformation campaigns orchestrated by parties known for their hostility towards Algeria," she added, highlighting the necessity to “strengthen the country's sovereign immunity.”
She braoched, among other points, the concept of "memory media" and discussed their main specificities as well as their role in building historical cohesion, specifying that "their main function is to transmit the oath of the Chouhada, to glorify historical events and to anchor local memory."
She cited examples illustrating the treatment by national media of the most atrocious crimes committed by the French occupation in Algeria, praising the efforts made by the Ministry of Mujahideen and Rights-holders, in partnership with several sectors and major media forums, like APS, to shed light on important historical events.
For his part, the history researcher, Mohamed Lahcen Zeghidi, considered that APS "preserves, on behalf of the Nation, its memory, its existence and its evolution," praising the organization by the press agency of the Memory Forum, as part of the "return to authenticity and education of generations according to the principles of the craftsmen of the nation's glory."
The speaker also highlighted the role of information in writing history, being among "the main
reliable historical sources," noting that the national press had moved from "a revolutionary press to a national press nourishing the revolutionary culture of generations."
In this regard, Zeghidi welcomed the efforts of the national press which "faces frenzied disinformation campaigns" orchestrated against Algeria by the far right "manipulated by the children of pieds noirs and French officers whose hands are still stained with Algerian blood."
For his part, the former deputy director of Information at APS, journalist Aissa Rabia considered that safeguarding national memory "is a duty and a necessity to build the Homeland," recalling that France "engaged in all forms of blackout by preventing its media from evoking the truth about what was happening, in order to conceal its crimes against the Algerian people."
The meeting witnessed the presentation of several ideas and initiatives aimed at strengthening the contribution of the national press to the preservation of national memory, such as the proposal of APS to conclude an agreement between the Agency and the National Center for Studies and Research on the National Movement and the Revolution of November 1st (CNERMN54), in order to implement "a rich action program that focuses on key priorities , with the effect of further recording Algeria's rich history."