Algeria has more than 45 independent French language and Arabic language publications as well as 4 government-owned newspapers (two published in French and two in Arabic), but the government controls all printing presses and advertising. The Algerian newspapers with the largest circulations are Echourouk (1,800,000), Ennahar (1,600,000), El Khabar (1,000,000) and Quotidien d'Oran (700,000); all four are employee-owned. The government also owns all radio and television outlets, which provide pro-government programming. In 2004 and 2005, the government increased the access of Berber language and culture to both print and broadcast media.
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Algérie Presse Service is the Algerian national press agency. It was created on December 1, 1961, following the national independence of Algeria from French control, to represent Algeria in the sphere of the world media. It has evolved into an institution that produces online and satellite services.
Journalism
The written press in Algeria publishes in three languages: Arabic, French and Tamazight. The majority of print publications are privately owned. The print press also publishes online, on a daily basis, except for on Fridays (public observation of the Islamic holy day).
Writing in Arabic, English and French, Algerian bloggers cover social, cultural and political topics. There are more than 100,000 Algerian blogs, a newspaper suggested in late 2014.
Algerian dailies mark the anniversary of the introduction of the defamation laws by suspending publication in a protest known as a "day without newspapers". Arabic-language newspapers include Echorouk, El Khabar, and El Massa. French-language newspapers include El Watan and El Moudjahid. English-language newspapers include the North Africa Journal. Defunct newspapers include Lisan al-Din (Language of Faith) founded in 1912, and the longer-lived Al-balagh al-jazairi (Algerian Messenger) founded in 1926 by Sufi Ahmad al-Alawi (1869–1934).
Censorship
There is no direct censorship, but laws set out prison terms and fines for insulting or defaming the president, MPs, judges and the army. Media rights bodies have accused the government of using the laws to control the private press.
Algerian dailies mark the anniversary of the introduction of the defamation laws by suspending publication in a protest known as a "day without newspapers".
Algeria's television and radio stations are state-controlled, but there is a lively private press which often criticises the authorities. Satellite TV is popular; stations based in France target viewers in Algeria and European channels are widely watched.
Telephones and telephony
According to the CIA The World Fact "the rapid increase in mobile cellular subscribership; in 2008, combined fixed-line and mobile telephone density surpassed 100 telephones per 100 persons. And participant in Medarabtel; satellite earth stations—51 (Intelsat, Intersputnik, and Arabsat) services link Algeria with most other parts of the world.
Television
In the area of broadcasting, the government has maintained a monopoly since 1962. Algerian television was somewhat democratized by the new constitution of 1989. Entreprise nationale de télévision (ENTV) is the national entity that oversees public television broadcasting. It manages the television channels Canal Algérie, Algérie 3, Amazigh tv 4 in Tamazight and the religious channel Coran tv 5 which broadcasts Islamic religious programming. The government purchases many commercial programs for broadcast. Canal Algérie also broadcasts online, without interruption.
Satellite broadcasts
The majority of the population of Algeria prefers to watch satellite broadcasts of French and Arab stations. The number of satellite dishes is estimated at 34 million. (Françaises ou Arabes). A bill is currently being studied that would prohibit satellite dishes on the facade of houses that face streets and boulevards. Many satellite services operate in Algeria, including Camagraph, Stream System, Magenta, and Condor. French-owned Canal+ has recently signed a special agreement with Algeria.
Algerian television channels:
Until now there are 50 channels broadcasting offshore. All these channels have large bureaus in Algiers but legally registered in Jordan, Bahrain, and the UK. With the recently published media law, these TV networks will have to comply with Algeria law to become Algerian licensed TV.
Radio
Radio Algérienne is the public radio broadcasting entity. It manages three national broadcast stations, two with national formats and 32 regional stations. This entity, which has 34 million Algerian listeners, broadcasts in Arab, Berber, and French.
Chorouk TV identifies itself as the first private satellite TV channel in Algeria launched just after the newly passed media law enabling businesspeople/journalists to create their own TV and radio stations. The channel will show about ten major thematic programmes dealing with politics, business, social, sport, entertainment and music. It will broadcast a one-hour and half news bulletin similar to Aljazeera’s Hasad Al Yawm (Today’s News Harvest). But in general, it identifies itself as Dubai-based MBC network, namely family/edutainment channel.
Internet
As of 2014 Algeria had 40000 Internet hosts and 31.7 million internet users.