Algeria

Algeria’s media system is one of the most state-dominated in North Africa, structured around a core of publicly owned broadcasters, a national news agency and a group of government newspapers, all under the tutelage of the Ministry of Communication. The State Media Monitor maps seven public-sector outlets: three classified as State-Controlled (SC) and four classified as Captured Public/State-Managed Media (CaPu). The public television operator EPTV, the public radio operator EPRS / Radio algérienne and the official news agency APS sit at the centre of the system, while the four public newspapers — El Moudjahid, Ech Chaab, El Djoumhouria and Horizons — form the print tier. Privately owned channels and newspapers exist alongside this public architecture, but the state retains decisive leverage over the sector through ownership, appointments, regulation and the distribution of public advertising.

The defining feature of the Algerian media economy is the combination of direct state funding and state-controlled advertising. The public broadcasters and news agency are sustained predominantly by treasury transfers, while the public newspapers depend on a mix of subsidy and advertising channelled through the Agence nationale d’édition et de publicité (ANEP), the central state advertising agency. ANEP remains a decisive lever in the media economy because of its role in distributing institutional and public-sector advertising.

ANEP became a focus of controversy during the cycle. In October 2025, members of parliament questioned the Minister of Communication over what they described as opaque and discretionary distribution of public advertising, warning that it threatened the economic survival and editorial independence of media outlets. A series of corruption trials over the historical management of public advertising also resulted in convictions of former officials, including former communication-sector officials. The minister defended ANEP’s criteria while undertaking to update the rules for distributing public advertising.

The legal environment is restrictive. Algeria’s 2023 media-law package introduced new restrictions and sanctions, reorganised media-regulatory structures and barred Algerian media outlets from receiving foreign funding or material assistance. The broader legal framework also includes penal-code provisions criminalising the dissemination of false or malicious information deemed harmful to state security, public order or national unity. Senior appointments in public media run through the executive, with directors-general installed by presidential decree or ministerial decision.

A state-led modernisation agenda runs in parallel. It is organised around digital transformation, the Dzaïr Media City project intended to consolidate major public media institutions, and official messaging framed around countering disinformation. The Dzaïr Media City project is planned to include a dedicated media zone, studios, research and training spaces, and premises for major national media institutions including EPTV, APS, TDA, ANEP, Radio algérienne and AL24 News.

Press freedom deteriorated sharply over the cycle. In the 2026 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, Algeria ranked 145th of 180, down 19 places from 126th in 2025, with its score falling from 44.64 to 37.38. RSF attributes the decline to detentions, censorship and online harassment targeting independent newsrooms, and frames press-freedom conditions across North Africa as structurally entrenched rather than cyclical. The reversal was broad, with Algeria’s political and economic indicators among its weakest, within a MENA region that RSF identifies as the worst in the world for press freedom.

SMM classifies seven Algerian public-sector outlets for 2026 across two typologies. The State-Controlled tier comprises EPTV, EPRS / Radio algérienne and APS: wholly state-owned public establishments under ministry tutelage, with executive-appointed leadership and predominantly public funding, operating as direct instruments of state communication.

The Captured Public tier comprises the four government newspapers: El Moudjahid, Ech Chaab, El Djoumhouria and Horizons. These are publicly owned titles that function as managed editorial publications dependent on subsidy and ANEP-channelled advertising. They are distinguished from the SC tier because they operate as functioning newspapers rather than direct organs of a single state office.

All seven classifications are stable for 2026 and carried forward from prior cycles. Horizons, which entered the SMM database in 2023, has been classified CaPu in every cycle since. No outlet changed typology during the cycle. Developments over the period, including leadership changes, digital-modernisation efforts and the ANEP advertising controversy, reinforced rather than altered the existing classifications. Algeria’s single-authority structure means the mapping is organised under one governing framework, with the Ministry of Communication and the presidency’s communication apparatus as the controlling centre.

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