TV Notre Patrie

TV Notre Patrie (TV Our Homeland), also known as TVNP and by its slogan La Chaîne de la Liberté,^[1] was a pirate television station originating out of Bouaké, a city which, in the 2000s, was controlled by rebels of the New Forces. The station broadcast on La Première's local transmitter for a few hours a day, replacing the national signal coming out of Abidjan, and operated on a shoestring budget. The channel closed in 2011, during the 2010-2011 crisis.

TVNP began broadcasting on 21 October 2002 as Télé-Mutin,^[2] shortly after Bouaké was taken over by rebels.^[3] By January 2003, the channel was known under its longtime name TV Notre Patrie.^[4] The station operated out of a small concrete building and used outdated equipment, such as old camcorders, VCRs and video editing machines seized from RTI, when it had an office there.^[5]

In December 2005, the station had thirty refugees, receiving US$2,72 bonuses each month. Its programming was rudimentary, consisting largely of in-house programs catering several topics (cooking, health, culture, religion, children), movies (often from bootlegged copies),^[5] political speeches, and, especially, its news service. The channel was heavily criticized by locals, who thought that TVNP was biased and one-sided, as a politicized outlet. The fact that it took over RTI 1's transmitters for a few hours deprived viewers of receiving^[3]

On 31 August 2010, TVNP was targeted by CNCA, the Ivorian regulator, which was responded by its manager Bamba Sinima, who said that TVNP would not shut down.^[6] Two of its journalists were arrested upon arriving to Abidjan on 28 January 2011.^[7] They were reportedly tortured while in prison.^[8]