About the MSI
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IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country’s media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and produced the first Middle East and North Africa MSI in 2005.
MSI Overview [9] | Africa [10] | Asia [11] | Europe & Eurasia [12] | Middle East & North Africa [13]
MSI Methodology [14]
Download the Complete Algeria MSI Chapter (PDF): 2009 [15] | 2008 [16] | 2006/7 [17] | 2005 [18]
MSI Algeria - 2009 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.51
During 2009, Algeria's presidential election lacked any semblance of suspense. Algerians expected all along that President Bouteflika would win another term after 10 years in office (1999-2009). President Bouteflika prepared for this third term by ensuring that the constitution was amended to allow him to nominate himself for a third term; previously, the limit had been two terms.
Unlike the political situation, characterized by total inertia, the economic and social situation underwent many changes—including some improvements. Official data from the National Office of Statistics indicated that the economic growth rate went up a few percentage points compared to 2008, and the unemployment rate dropped slightly. Yet, improvement in the economic indicators did not prevent many protests and demonstrations over social issues, such as housing crises and unemployment in some parts of the country.
The country's overall economic progress did not improve the outlook for journalists, either. They continue to draw low salaries and suffer from poor economic security—in a country that is faring better overall as a result of the improving security situation and the rising price of oil, which provides more than 97 percent of the state budget revenue. in other respects as well, the media landscape changed little during 2009, the 20th anniversary of the opening of the print media sector—but not in television and radio, as the government continues to refuse to allow competition in the broadcast sector. The government now exerts far more overt control over broadcast media than in the early 1990s, when the sector had at least a degree of openness.
The scores awarded by the MSI panelists express the state of media and political stagnation that has characterized Algeria for years. The panelists criticized not only the public media, but also the private printed press, which has not shown any improvement over the past few years despite the large number of titles. Advertising now represents the bulk of the media outlets' income, and the private press has started to come under pressure from advertisers and advertising agencies.
As in the 2008 study, the 2009 panelists focused on what they view as the dichotomy between theoretical freedoms and professional obligations stipulated by Algeria's legal and constitutional framework and the realities of an adverse environment and poor professional practice. This year, the overall MSI score fell noticeably, as only Objective 1, Freedom of Speech, managed a slight increase. All other objectives remained static or lost ground; Objective 3, Plurality of News, suffered the most dramatic drop, losing nearly half a point.