The paper presents events in Algeria that led to fall of the long-term president of the country, Abd al-Aziz Bouteflika in April 2019 and examines the role of the new media in this process. The analysis explains the reasons of the failure of the Arab Spring in this country in 2011. Critical discourse analysis of Algerian new media conducted by the author shows that despite lack of active actions in 2011, youth movements appeared in Algeria and led the protests in 2019 not only in the Internet but also in the “offline” world. Currently, the discussion about political impact of new media focuses mainly on a question whether the power of protesting societies is sufficient to overthrow a government. According to the author of the paper, it is a single-dimensional approach to the problem, what has been proven by the example of Algeria. New media have become an inseparable part of contemporary societies and their discourse, serving as a platform for disseminating information, mobilizing and participating . In Algeria, despite the fact that social media "have not yet reached maturity" (among others, because of illiteracy, mismanagement, lack of freedom of speech and true democracy), they are gradually becoming political and media public spaces for those excluded from the mainstream politics and media. The social media have caused a situation where the Algerian government has to meet growing demands of society for a greater degree of democracy, justice and freedom of the press and freedom of opinion. With their help, people learned the techniques of social mobilization, developed structures of social movement and civil society. Effects of this activity can slowly be observed not only in Algeria but throughout the Arab world.
The paper presents the phenomenon of television station Al-Jazeera, which was founded in 1996 in Qatar by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thaniani. Al-Jazeera distinguishes itself among other Arab media due to the raised issues, breaking the existing taboos in the Muslim world. However, it is not entirely free medium because of being financed by the ruler of Qatar and will never dare to criticize the Emir policy. The station, which broadcasts also in English, today is one of the most influential media not only among Arab countries, but also worldwide.
The history of the Arab media is interesting because it shows how important role the media can play in political changes. Arabs, as one of the nations conquered by the Ottoman Empire, began to use the press as a mean of national revival already in the 19th century, later this process intensified significantly in the 1940s´, where the press became one of the arenas of the struggle for the independence of Arab states. The role of the media in the Arab national liberation struggle is underestimated. However, their powerful force was noticed by the new Arab regimes, which completely subdued the media market of the nascent Arab states and began to use the media for their own political purposes. This situation continues to this day, but the emergence of the Internet in this part of the world has reawakened the Arab national liberation mood, which culminated during the Arab Spring. Nowadays, Arab new media is considered to be the next arena of the fight for political change and democratization of this part of the world.
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