Scenes of panic in Algeria. The Algerian Audiovisual Authority (ARAV) urged the media to “avoid focusing excessively on negative news” in their coverage of the health crisis, as Algeria is experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases and a shortage of oxygen.
In a statement, she invited the heads of television channels on Wednesday evening to “fulfill their missions towards viewers, avoiding focusing excessively on negative news and tragic stories linked to the Covid-19 contamination”.
#Algeria : general mess to scavenge oxygen cylinders#Covid # Covid_19 #coronavirus #publichospital pic.twitter.com/mWBqcZkEcN
– Algeria Expat (@Algerie_Expat) July 26, 2021
“The situation is becoming even more difficult to deal with”
Such information can only “sow fear, dread and despair in society, and the situation becomes even more difficult to deal with,” said the ARAV.
The Authority considers it essential to “respect professional rules, show weighting in the coverage, and accuracy in the dissemination of information or images”, especially when social networks “constitute a main source of information”.