Algerian newspaper "Liberté" closes due to "political pressure"
"Thank you and goodbye" is the title page of the last publication of the daily "Liberté" after three decades of journalism through daily publications. According to owner Isaac Rebrab, the reasons for the newspaper's closure are due to "economic factors" that have had repercussions on the staff due to "political pressure" from the government.
Algeria's media landscape is thus suffering one of its most serious crises at a time when the country is ranked 146th out of 180 in the world press freedom index, according to Reporters Without Borders.
This attack on press freedom puts Algeria in the spotlight. As various organisations point out, the authorities are exerting increasing pressure on the media, making it difficult to carry out journalistic work with full rigour and professionalism. Many Algerian journalists who have covered the protests of the Rif Popular Movement, known as Hirak, have been questioned by the police and have even been remanded in custody.
#ARGELIA
— RSF España (@RSF_ES) April 14, 2022
"Gracias y adiós".
Sobrio y digno hasta el final.
El diario #Liberté, monumento de la prensa escrita durante 30 años, se despide hoy. RSF deplora la ola de presiones políticas que han llevado a esta desaparición y expresa su preocupación por el periodismo argelino. pic.twitter.com/VIDL8Kdphw
Rebrab denounced that in Algeria "the outlook is not encouraging. Today you are holding in your hands the 9050th issue of your newspaper 'Liberty'. It is, unfortunately, the last one. After thirty years, Liberté disappears from the Algerian media landscape. Thousands of households will be deprived of it, as well as the institutions whose officials admit to having started reading with our title for one simple reason; that it is different from the others".
In the 1990s and 2000s, the newspaper was positioned with print runs close to 300,000 copies in the decades. "After the period of the dark years 1992-2000 when the paper lost four of its contributors and suffered six suspensions, the team did not give up despite the almost permanent danger that hung over the tight-knit press family," the Editorial noted.
The newspaper "Liberty", known under the slogan "the right to know, the right to inform", was born in 1922 in the context of the Algerian civil war. From that time on, the newspaper adopted a very critical editorial line against Islamic fundamentalism.
The definitive closure of the newspaper is not the only crisis the paper has suffered, although it is the most important one. The journalists of "Libertad" point out that during the exercise of their profession, they suffered hindrances such as the suspension of publications in 2003 for a week. In addition, reporter Mohamed Mouloudj was arrested in September 2001 after being accused of belonging to the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), designated by the country as a "terrorist" organisation.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboun himself accused the newspaper of "adding fuel to the fire" after the publication of a report denouncing the shortage of basic foodstuffs. The Sonatrach company also filed a complaint against the newspaper after accusing it of having distorted the statements of the oil company's president in a published interview.
These factors, coupled with economic difficulties and pressures, have led to the newspaper's eventual closure. Over the weekend, intellectuals, researchers, journalists and artists demonstrated to convince Rebrab to continue with the newspaper, pointing out that "the newspaper also belongs to its readers in all their diversity". However, these demonstrations have not been enough to prevent "freedom" from closing down, a closure that further accentuates the journalistic crisis in the country.
