M6 banned in Algeria following a report on Hirak

Headquarters of the M6 ​​group in Neuilly, in 2016 -

"A biased look at the Hirak", according to the Algerian government.

The Algerian Ministry of Communication has decided to "no longer authorize" the private French television channel M6 to operate in Algeria, he said in a statement released Monday evening.

This decision comes the day after the broadcast of the report entitled

, as part of the program

presented by Bernard de la Villardière.

This seventy-five-minute report looked back on the popular Hirak protest movement, which has shaken the country and challenged the regime in place for several months.

The Ministry of Communication denounces a report produced by a team provided with a "false authorization to shoot".

"This precedent leads us to decide to no longer authorize M6 to operate in Algeria, in any form whatsoever," says the ministry.

This report - filmed at times with “discreet cameras” - exposes testimonies of three young Algerians on the future of their country, in the grip of an unprecedented uprising since February 2019. The health crisis necessitated the suspension of the Hirak marches in mid-March.

"Tasteless testimonies", according to the ministry

The Ministry of Communication castigates "insipid testimonies", "the most reductive clichés" and "a sum of anecdotes without depth".

One of the protagonists of the investigation, Noor, a YouTuber known in Algeria, explained on Monday on social networks that she regretted having participated in the documentary and deplored "the lack of professionalism" of the French channel.

In Algeria, women are minors for life.

Yet Noor has become an Internet star despite threats and insults.

“Algeria, the country of all revolts”

📺This evening at 11:10 pm on @ M6 pic.twitter.com/iOAKQtHnyG

- Exclusive Survey (@EnqueteExclu) September 20, 2020

According to the Algerian press release, "a Franco-Algerian journalist ensured the production of the film, with the help of an" Algerian fixer ", provided with a false filming authorization", an offense "moreover severely punished".

Ministry promises to prosecute

The ministry promises to prosecute the authors of the report for "forgery in authentic or public writing".

It "is not fortuitous that these media, equipped to accomplish an agenda aimed at tarnishing the image of Algeria and at cracking the unwavering trust established between the Algerian people and its institutions, act in concert and at different levels and supports », He believes.

According to the ministry, M6 had filed on March 6, 2020 a press accreditation request for the members of the team of the program

, with a view to filming a documentary on "the enhancement of the economic boom and tourism of the city of Oran, as well as the multiculturalism which makes the wealth of our country ”.

Request which received an unfavorable response from the services of the Ministries of Communication and Foreign Affairs, he said.

The broadcast last May by the public channel France 5 of a documentary on Algerian youth and Hirak -

by French journalist and director of Algerian origin Mustapha Kessous - had triggered a diplomatic crisis between Algiers and Paris.

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