Journalists and the mobility of Algeria .. Break the restrictions and search for dignity

Islam Abdel-Hai-Algeria

Algeria, like other countries, celebrated the International Day of Freedom of Expression and Press on May 3rd of every year. However, unlike the last 20 years, this occasion came in the absence of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who resigned after weeks of popular movement.

In the opinion of journalists that the popular movement contributed to the granting of the press in the country boldness and wider freedom margins were not enjoyed before, but in the view of others that this freedom is limited because the media system is part of the political system, and is not only complete liberation of the political system.

In the midst of popular unrest in Algeria since February 22, journalists from the private sector held several protest vigils in the Freedom Square in the center of the capital, denouncing what they called pressure. They called for the freedom of expression and freedom of expression.

The state television and radio and the official APS have also witnessed protest movements, sit-ins and sit-ins for their associates because of the blackout in the transfer of what is happening across the country's cities.

According to the professor at the Faculty of Media at the University of Algiers, Mohamed Laama, that the media in Algeria took a great deal of freedom after the popular movement.

"The journalists were, until recently, harassed and self-censored," he said, adding that journalists' vigils at the start of the movement freed many of them and forced the owners of these institutions to stop propaganda and to bow to the people's demands for truth. , Which contributed - he believes - to inflate the number of protesters in the marches and take off President Bouteflika.

Journalists in the first weeks of the popular movement were harassed during their transfer of protest. "They were expelled by the protesters because they believed they were obscuring the people's demands," says Um Al-Khair Hamidi, a journalist for Al-Shorouq TV.

Um Al-Khair justified the superficial way of dealing with the movement in its beginnings under pressure exerted by Al-Shorouq Foundation, cutting off the public announcements about it, and stopping printing the newspaper of the Foundation in the government printing press.

On the other hand, Umm al-Khair described the social and professional conditions of journalists in Algeria as "mazriya", especially for private media workers, and said that some journalists suffer from delays in getting their salaries may extend for months.

Algerian journalists see the lowest income compared to their colleagues in the region, where the journalist receives a salary starting from 25 thousand dinars (about 217 dollars), and rises in some institutions to 150 thousand dinars (about one thousand dollars).

In light of the difficult social conditions of journalists and the absence of regulatory regulations for the sector, an independent trade union was announced on May 2.

The founding member of the union was founded several months ago, but founding member Mohammed Muslim acknowledges that the union is one of the fruits of the popular movement that liberated the Algerians in all sectors. It came to fill a void in the Algerian media scene and to defend the professional and social rights of journalists and organize the sector.

Despite the optimism of the popular movement, journalist Mehdi Heimer said that the road is still long before reaching a new media scene in Algeria.

The hoped-for change of Algerian journalists may have an impact on the country's ranking in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Index on Freedom of Expression and Press, which currently ranks Algeria at 141.