The Director General of Algerian Public Television Establishment (EPTV), Chabane Lounakel was relieved of his duties, mere hours after Algerian television broadcast Morocco’s qualification to the World Cup semi finals.
“The Minister of Communication, Mohamed Bouslimani proceeded on Sunday to the appointment of Nadir Boukabes as Director General of EPTV”, announced the Algerian ministry through a short press release.
The supervisory department did not share further details on this change, nor did the Algerian media.
Though this announcement coincides with the broadcast by Algerian television of the qualification of the Atlas Lions to the semi-finals of the World Cup, after the Atlas Lions sacked the Portuguese team with a 1-0 score.
Morocco created the tournament’s upset by becoming the first African team to reach the semi-final of a World Cup, beating Portugal (1-0). The Atlas Lions will face France on Wednesday December 14 at 8 p.m Moroccan time.
Prior to this recent game, Algeria television simply excluded Morocco from its World Cup coverage, going as far as to not show its results when reporting the F Group ranking in the group stage.
Later that week, Algerian television also switched the Croatian and Moroccan flags when finally reporting on the group stage standing, after Morocco topped the group that included the Kingdom with Belgium, Croatia and Canada.
Amidst the global joy that football fans are expressing towards Morocco’s historic World Cup participation this year, Algerian media have been awkwardly avoiding recognizing their neighbors’ success, but now have gone as far as punishing those who dare report on the Atlas lions’ achievements.
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