Algeria: National Press Day marred by private TV station shutdown
| Publisher | Amnesty International |
| Publication Date | 21 October 2015 |
| Cite as | Amnesty International, Algeria: National Press Day marred by private TV station shutdown, 21 October 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5628998b4.html [accessed 19 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
The Algerian government must cease its relentless campaign of censorship of private broadcasters if it is going to live up to its pledge to uphold and strengthen media freedoms in the country, said Amnesty International as the country marks National Press Day on 22 October.
Only last week police raided and shut down El Watan TV, confiscating equipment and escorting staff out of the station's office in the capital Algiers after it broadcast an interview with a controversial government critic.
In 2014 the government introduced restrictive licensing laws which have left many broadcasters in legal limbo operating under the constant threat of censorship.
"The government's repeated shutdowns of private TV stations that dare to criticise it, such as El Watan TV, is a clear and present danger to the survival of a free media in Algeria," Said Boumedouha, Amnesty International's Director of North Africa and the Middle East
"The authorities must allow El Watan TV to resume broadcasting, as it must other private TV stations it has shut down which have criticised it. These shutdowns amount to a massive assault on independent broadcast media in Algeria."
El Watan TV had angered the government after broadcasting an interview with the former chief of the dissolved armed wing of the Islamic Salvation Front, Madani Mesrag.
Mesrag had criticised President Abdelaziz Bouteflika for refusing to allow him to register a new political party and threatened to disclose controversial information, believed to relate to Algeria's internal armed conflict in the 1990s.
Broadcast licences are difficult to obtain and extra regulations require a broadcaster to ensure the content of its programmes abide by "the needs of national security and defence", "the country's economic and diplomatic interests", "conforming to the national religious reference" (Islam), "society's values" and "national values and State symbols."
