Algerian independent press a permanent target

Today, violence against the media has subdued, but journalists remain either the foe or captive of political leaders, generals and influential individuals.

“During the civil war, journalists were specifically targeted and many were murdered," said Omar Belhouchet, publisher of El Watan, a leading French-language newspaper in Algeria, to RAP 21. "Our newspaper was one of struggle and resistance. Islamic groups were trying to kill as many journalists as possible and to have newspapers closing down, while the government was trying to censor them so as to hide the reality. The time for professionalism and traditional forms of news treatment came at a later point, as of the year 2000.”

Belhouchet, the 1994 laureate of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) Golden Pen of Freedom, has pushed forward a democratic agenda that has upset both the ruling authoritarian regime and militant Islamic fundamentalists. Despite two assassination attempts, more than a hundred death threats, countless court trials, sentences and five suspensions, he has succeeded in sustaining and strengthening his newspaper.

“To secure the independence of El Watan, we had to struggle on more than one front and build capacities that are directly linked to our industry - distribution, printing and advertising,” said Belhouchet.

Editorial independence could only be guaranteed by financial independence and the ability to print and distribute El Watan outside state-controlled printing and distribution facilities. “We started by investing into distribution networks and later into printing facilities. Every dime we earned was reinvested in our company.” This strategy was successful and the newspaper has grown in terms of content, launched thematic supplements, introduced colours and a new layout.

Journalists in Algeria continue to “work under the sword of Damocles,” said Belhouchet. The penal code includes prison sentences ranging from three to five years for journalists and publishers in cases of defamation. “That has led certain newspapers to practice self-censorship,” he said.

On 23 December 2008, Belhouchet was sentenced to three months in prison by an Algiers court, along with journalist and colleague Salima Tlemçani, for defamation. The case concerns an article published in 2004 that exposed an alleged healer who had claimed to cure illness despite having no medical background. The defendants appealed the sentence.

In a separate case, Belhouchet was sentenced on 4 March 2008 to two months in prison along with Chawki Amari, a prominent columnist and cartoonist at El Watan, also on charges of defamation. According to Amari, the only way they can now avoid spending time behind bars is if the Supreme Court decides that there was a procedural error during the trial.

Ahmed Ancer, columnist at El Watan and member of the Algerian Centre for the Defence of Press Freedom, concurred that courts do no hesitate to hand down hefty fines and prison sentences to journalists in defamation cases. “Repressive measures introduced in the penal code in 2000 must be repealed to put an end to abuses, especially in defamation cases. These court cases don't aim at rendering justice, but at limiting freedoms,” Ancer said to RAP 21.

(The World Association of Newspapers says the jailing of journalists for carrying out their professional activities is a breach of their right to freedom of expression. Defamation should be a civil, not a criminal, infraction).

Regarding the position of the press in Algeria, Ancer warned that “the impressive number of titles on the market is unfortunately not an indicator of freedom of expression or of pluralism. Out of the 67 daily newspapers published in Algeria, 60 are legally linked to the state and adhere to an editorial line defined by the government.”

Why do public authorities fund so many titles? “To limit the audience of newspapers that stand for fundamental rights. From the distance, one would think that the Algerian press is diverse and vibrant, but the reality is that it is mainly under the orders of the authorities and dependent of public subsidies,” Ancer stressed.

A report issued by the Communication Minister in May 2006 estimated the circulation of all daily newspapers at 1,376,950 copies. The Arabic-language daily El Khabar leads with 430,000 copies a day, whereas Le Quotidien d'Oran and El Watan are the leading French-language dailies with respectively 149,900 and 126,000 copies. The circulation of weekly publications reached 1,850,000 copies per week in 2006.

Ancer asked how newspapers with very small newsrooms, no local correspondents in the country and a distribution limited to Algiers and large cities could claim to be national publications. “All these titles have as their sole objective the restriction of freedom of expression by jeopardising fair competition,” he added. The shortcomings of professional training are also detrimental to the quality and plurality of information published in a country where access to information held by public institutions is almost non-existent.

Ancer called for urgent reforms that would enable the development of independent media, both print and broadcast, allow for a fair and healthy competition, as well as higher salaries and better social coverage.

Until the end of the 1990s, state advertisements dominated the market. When private companies started to purchase most of newspapers' advertising space, there was hope that this would free newspapers from state influence and thus strengthen freedom of the press. But Ancer said that commercial pressures are also proving to have a negative impact on freedom of expression.

In 2004, in the wake of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's re-election, Mohamed Benchicou, publisher of the independent daily Le Matin, was jailed for two years in retaliation for critical stands he took against the president. The signal to other publishers and journalists was clear and obeyed by many.

“I think press freedom has lost ground in Algeria over the past years. The authorities are continuously resorting to economic pressure and judicial harassment to silence independent newspapers. In Algeria and Morocco, journalists are fighting hard to defend freedom of expression. It still exists, even if it is restricted and constantly threatened. In Tunisia though, there is no freedom of the press whatsoever. The repression there is terrible,” Belhouchet concluded.

Article published courtesy ofRAP 21