AMBASSADOR HOSTS IFTAR DINNER FOR ALGERIAN PRESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000838 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2019 TAGS: AG KISL PGOV PHUM PREL SCUL US SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR HOSTS IFTAR DINNER FOR ALGERIAN PRESS LEADERS Classified By: Ambassador David D. Pearce, reason 1.4 (b),(d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Human rights lawyers and editors of Algeria's independent French and Arabic language print dailies complained of a continuing oppressive environment for the press over the past year during an iftar hosted by the Ambassador September 15. Government unwillingness to share information with the press along with the threat of defamation suits hinder investigations and reporting. The editors nevertheless believed their papers published valuable information, and some scoffed at a recently established paper that had dramatically increased circulation with sensationalist stories aimed at conservative Muslims. The larger established dailies claim to be commercially viable -- although some fear that increasing internet penetration could one day threaten that -- but smaller dailies are struggling and at the mercy of government-owned printing presses. Algeria has long had no formal journalist training schools, so newspapers have to train their own reporters from graduates with minimal formal training in journalism. The Ambassador's guests saw no prospect for establishing independent television or radio in Algeria, which the government regards as a threat (it has also come to view the widespread viewing of satellite channels as a mostly harmless distraction). One lawyer complained that nearly universal observance of Ramadan in Algeria is a burden on the economy and compared the fasting period to a one-month enforced strike. End summary Official Cult of Secrecy -------------- ¶2. (C) The Ambassador on September 15 hosted an iftar for human rights lawyers and owners and editors of the larger independent French- and Arabic-language daily newspapers at his residence. Guests included Omar Belhouchet, owner of the French daily El-Watan; Ahmed Fattani, founder and director of the French daily L'Expression; Abrous Outoudert and Ali Ouafek, co-founders of the French daily Liberte; Ali Djerri and Larbi Zouak, publisher and editor-in-chief respectively of the Arabic daily El-Khabar; and Ali Foudil, founder of the Arabic daily Echourouk el-Youmi. Also participating were two lawyers, Khaled Bourayou, who has defended hundreds of journalists and newspaper owners, and Miloud Brahimi, a human rights lawyer who specializes in press freedom issues. Ambassador, DCM, P/E chief, PAO, IO, and LES press assistant attended on the US side. The discussion was in French. ¶3. (C) The main obstacle to open press reporting in Algeria, all agreed, was the government's reluctance to share information. Government officials routinely deny reporters' requests for information or interviews but then, noted Belhouchet of El-Watan, often complain after a story is published that the government was not consulted. All agreed that Algerian authorities remain steeped in a ''culture of secrecy,'' which many of the invitees understood well from having started in an era of total state control over all media. Lawyer Brahami pointed out that President Bouteflika had never given a single interview in over ten years in office, an assertion the other guests quickly echoed. Ouafek of Liberte agreed that government officials feel no need to face the press regularly to explain and give account of their actions or respond to press questions. Brahimi was the only dissonant voice, saying that the press still manages to investigate and print diverse and critical stories. He pointed to that day's story in El-Watan reporting the feud between Interior Minister Zerhouni and Director General of the police Tounsi in such detail ''as if the reporter had actually been there.'' Defamation Laws Create Legally Threatening Environment -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Another threat to a free press, all agreed, is the punitive legal environment caused by Algeria's defamation law. The government can bring a joint criminal-civil lawsuit against a newspaper, its publisher and editor-in-chief, and the journalist who wrote the offending story, and then impose jail sentences, a fine, and award civil damages to the plaintiff. There was general consensus that this state of affairs has not improved over the past year. The threat of lawsuits made newspapers and journalists cautious in a way that amounted to a degree of self-censorship. Newspapers spent inordinate amounts in legal fees to defend themselves against lawsuits. Despite talk of impending amendments to Algeria's information law, the guests held out no hope it would be changed in a liberal direction any time soon. Lack of Training -------------- ¶5. (C) These editors and publishers also lamented that Algeria's journalists needed better training and observed that the country lacked a dedicated training facility for journalists. Most new entrants learned their trade in the papers that hired them. Ouafek of Liberte said that while a few Algerians were trained at journalism schools in France, most came out of political science faculties in Algiers, where they were educated in Arabic. Once working for the French-language Liberte, they had to learn both the craft of journalism and how to write in French. Fattani of L'Expression said there was a shortage of qualified French-speaking journalists, and Djerri of El-Khabar said there was no less of a shortage on the Arabic side. Commercial Viability -------------- ¶6. (C) L'Expression director Fattani said Algeria's dozen leading independent newspapers were commercially viable. They drew advertising from a variety of sources, printed their daily editions in private sector printing presses, and were able to cover costs and make a profit. Djerri put in that El-Khabar had taken no government advertising since ¶1988. But most of Algeria's more than sixty dailies, Fattani continued, were marginal operations with low circulations that relied on government-owned printing presses and state advertising revenue. Their financial and logistical dependence on the government made it impossible to take an independent editorial stance, he said. Fattani and a couple of his colleagues voiced some concern about potential drops in revenue as car dealers and mobile phone operators, the two major advertisers in the major dailies, cut back on ad placement due to recently announced restrictions on car imports or cutbacks on advertising. ¶7. (C) Some news outlets, like Liberte and l'Expression, purchase excess printing capacity from El-Watan and El-Khabar, which have their own shared printing facilities, Fattani said. But this was not a viable long-term solution. Foudil, of Echourouk el-Youmi, said he was currently negotiating to buy new American-made printing presses. His paper's circulation had now topped 800,000, and was the largest in the Arab world, eclipsing even Al-Alhram of Egypt. The newspaper's website was the third largest in the region, trailing only the satellite channels Al-Jazeera and Al-'Arabiyya. Ambassador asked to what he attributed the dramatic rise in circulation of recent years, and Foudil replied that marketing had been key. The newspaper sponsored sports teams, religious events, and other high-profile activities that effectively advertised the newspaper's product. (Comment: the newspaper also benefited from a MEPI grant that helped modernize its newsroom organization, marketing, and business plan. End comment.) ¶8. (C) Ali Djerri of El-Khabar, in an aside, commented on the sudden rise of Echourouk el-Youmi. He said the newspaper had attracted many readers with spectacular stories based on flimsy sourcing or just rumor and fashioned its stories to appeal to a ''conservative'' Muslim audience. El-Khabar would never adopt such methods, Djerri declared. During the meal, others noted Echourouk el-Youmi's success, with one crowning Ali Foudil the "pope" of Algeria's press. A slightly embarrassed Foudil smiled while his peers jokingly paid tribute to such hard-hitting journalism as the front-page story about a toddler who could recite the Quran. Lawyer Brahimi, however, noted that Foudil had spent two years in jail some years earlier for his work as a journalist, and that he had been Foudil's lawyer. He said Foudil had been an example to others in the press of courage. ¶9. (C) Meanwhile, Ouafek of Liberte said that a future increase in Internet penetration might draw readership away from newspapers and reduce their income. Fattani too acknowledged this possibility, indicating he was following closely the travails of print media in the U.S. and other western countries. He was much more sanguine than Ouafek, however, given the low rate of Internet penetration in Algeria and the lack for most Algerians of a "virtual" alternative to the printed word for their daily news and opinion. ¶10. (C) Commercial broadcasting does not exist in Algeria. One editor recalled that President Bouteflika had vowed never to allow independent TV during his tenure. In any case, commercial television required a far greater investment than print media. Ouafek feared that a TV station financed by big business would become a mouthpiece for specific economic interests. Fattani explained that the government's resistance to commercial broadcasting was rooted in a bitter historical experience from the political opening of the late 1980s during which the government granted a commercial radio license only to see the programming dominated by Islamist political content. Many secular Algerians, according to Fattani, blame the radio for fanning the appeal of the Islamic Salvation Front. After the military takeover in 1992, the government reestablished its monopoly over broadcasting and has refused to budge for fear of the risk it might pose again. When asked about the paradox of state-controlled local broadcast media in the midst of the swirling sea of satellite channels from around the world, Fattani responded that this offered the government a useful and mostly harmless distraction for the population at large, since satellite television pays little direct attention to Algeria and its problems the way a local independent broadcaster would. (Comment: Interestingly, in a discussion of more conservative social and religious mores among younger Algerians, some members of the group blamed religious television channels beamed in from the Gulf for inspiring such inclinations. End comment) ¶11. (C) In a similar vein, lawyer Brahimi said he saw little prospect or even desirability of rapid political liberalization in the country until the issue of the role of the Islamists in politics had been resolved. Maybe what we need, he said, is a Turkish-style system where the military is the guarantor of democracy. He said he had once written an article along those lines. No one engaged him on the right or wrong of his premise, he said, but several people wanted to know who had put him up to it, assuming it was the military. Right now, both Brahimi and Ouafek of Liberte agreed, if there were a full political liberalization and elections, the Islamists would win. They are the best organized, Ouafek said. An Unclear Future -------------- ¶12. (C) Some members of the group had a hard time imagining the likely look of the Algerian press in ten years time. Commercial pressures were only likely to grow, and smaller papers would continue to survive only as long as government advertising kept them going. When asked about the future of the Francophone press in an increasingly Arabophone reading public, Fattani acknowledged that long-term trends would not favor the Francophone press. This bothered him and some of his colleagues, who believe that Algeria's French press retains a qualitative edge over its Arabic press. Ramadan on the Rise -------------- ¶13. (C) Some of the Ambassador's iftar guests expressed discomfort that Ramadan restrictions had increased in severity over the past twenty years. In 1985, one could find open bars and restaurants during Ramadan in Algiers but no more. The lawyer Brahimi lamented what he called the enforced ''one-month strike or vacation'' imposed by Ramadan, which caused economic losses that the country could ill afford. Comment -------------- ¶14. Newspapers are the only independent source of news, and genuine marketplace of ideas, in Algeria. Although proud of their newspapers and the stories they put out, these publishers and editors were pessimistic about the possibility of greater press freedom, and offered no solutions. They appeared to believe that the state continues to hold all the levers, will not loosen them, and faces little pressure from public opinion to do so. While most of them were in favor of greater liberty, particularly for the press, they considered the increasingly conservative religious trend in society at large, particularly among youth, as a factor that weighed against rapid or early liberalization of the political system. As a consequence, they saw little prospect of immediate change. One editor affirmed that the time for President Bouteflika to have changed the Algerian media landscape and allow greater freedom would have been in his second term. At the start of his third term, there was no reason to expect or hope for meaningful change. PEARCE