(

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: الوطن, "The Homeland") is an independent French-language

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

History and profile

The paper was founded in 1990 after Omar Belhouchet and nineteen colleagues left the FLN government-owned newspaper ''

El Moudjahid ''El Moudjahid'' ("The Martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as ...

'' (). It aims to promote democracy and to give coverage to the Algerian opposition, and has acted as an outspoken voice against

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

and

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

. It has been suspended several times by the Algerian government, and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

s and editors jailed for various offenses. Its reporters have, according to the international press watchdogs

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

(RSF) and

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

(CPJ) been targeted by both government forces and Islamist

insurgents An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well ...

. In July 2007, the paper started the first weekend edition in Algeria. Subsequently, the newspaper started economic, real estate, and television supplements, with the goal of having one supplement per day. In 2008, launched a trilingual Arabic, English, and French website. Fayçal Métaoui, an journalist, said that the paper created the website because its most significant competition originated from Arabic-language and English-language news sites.''The Report: Algeria 2008''. Oxford Business Group, 2008
199
. Retrieved from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

20 September 2012. , . ''El Watan'' is one of the few newspapers in Algeria to own its own private printing facilities.

Controversy and Strikes

''El Watan'' has faced numerous boycotts from the Algerian National Publishing and Advertising Agency (ANEP) and the Algerian Press Service (APS), preventing the newspaper from accessing public advertisement. In 2018, ''El Watan'' editor Omar Belhouchet noted that fear of reprisals have led "media companies oself-censor regarding certain topics". In September 2020, ''El Watan'' released a critical report detailing alleged large-scale corruption by Ahmed Gaid Salah, son of a late Army Chief of Staff. The report prompted the government to suspend ''El Watan’s'' advertising revenue and the newspaper eventually responded by emphasizing its support for the army. In 2022, following months of inconsistent, and then unpaid, salaries, ''El Watans staff went on strike. Newspaper management claimed unpaid salaries were due to revenue lost from bullying from the state, as well as improper notification of debt repayment by tax authorities and Crédit Populaire d’Algérie's decision to "freeze the company's accounts despite continuous attempts to find a solution to the problem". Creditors responded that the newspaper has substantial unpaid debt. In an effort to regain revenue, ''El Watan'' negotiated with ANEP and APS to allow the newspaper access to free public advertisement. Subtle changes in the newspaper's outputs following the end of strikes in late 2022 have been noted, especially in regards to foreign parties Algeria is increasing its economic and political relationships with.

Global Popularity

The paper's online version was the 45th most visited website for 2010 in the

MENA region The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...

References

External links

*
El Watan homepage

El-Watan ordered to pay fine
– IFEX {{DEFAULTSORT:Watan, El 1991 establishments in Algeria Newspapers published in Algeria French-language newspapers published in Algeria Newspapers established in 1991 Mass media in Algiers

History and profile

Controversy and Strikes

Global Popularity

See also

References

External links