Professor Mohamed Dahmani, a leading researcher in digital media and communication sciences, has told dzwatch exclusively that Algeria must urgently establish a national media monitoring center to counter disinformation campaigns and fake news in an era of accelerating digital transformation.
Speaking to dzwatch, Prof. Dahmani emphasized that media monitoring has evolved far beyond archiving articles or analyzing statistics. It has become a strategic practice reflecting institutional vigilance, serving as a national firewall against malicious campaigns and false narratives.
“With the explosion of big data and the advancement of predictive models, news intelligence has become the first line of defense — data transforms into digital shields, and predictive capacity becomes the key to survival,” he told dzwatch.
The proposed center would leverage artificial intelligence and digital analytics to track media content, measure public sentiment, and detect coordinated influence operations across social platforms.
Prof. Dahmani also noted that Algerian online journalism has successfully risen to the challenge of confronting disinformation, while calling on media institutions to transition toward smart, data-driven newsrooms. He added that stronger partnerships between universities, media outlets, and tech institutions are essential to transform academic research into real policy impact.
