New Media,Community and Politics in Algeria

The new questions raised by the introduction of satellite television in Third World countries are crucial and require reflections that go beyond an analysis of the media per se. What is public space? What are the loci and relations that connect media to social movements? Are media transformed by the new public spaces? What meaning is to be given to the notion of community? This article starts by discussing the context in which satellite television has been developed in Algeria. Then it discusses the processes of organization that satellite television produced, as well as the consequences of these processes for the conception of emerging public spaces. Finally, it examines the meanings of the use of satellite television with respect to the problematic of identity and the nature of mediation.