Mohamed Bouslimani: The media law guarantees the free exercise of media activity – Al-Hiwar Al-Jazaeryia

The Minister of Communication, Mohamed Bouslimani, affirmed today, Monday in Algiers, that the text of the organic law related to media is keen to ensure the free exercise of media activity in light of respecting legal controls that conform to the constitution and international treaties ratified by Algeria.

In his response to the interventions of the members of the National Assembly during the discussion session of the text of the media law, the minister said that most of the provisions of this text “enshrine provisions that protect all those who interfere in the field of freedom of the press by setting peremptory rules that balance between rights, freedoms and duties.”

The minister explained that the preparation of this text “was carried out with the involvement of the sector’s professionals, with the aim of their contribution to the innovative vision of the sector by taking into account the concerns and suggestions emanating from the meetings organized with all those involved in the sector.”

Bouslimani pointed out the need to distinguish between media outlets that are “subject to specific legal, professional and ethical controls” and social media sites through which citizens are active in order to “promote a specific idea, and therefore they have nothing to do with media activity.”

Regarding the professional status of the journalist, the minister responded by saying that “the journalist, in his capacity as a worker, is subject to the labor law and will be protected under the new media law by obliging the media outlet to conclude a written work contract in order to enhance his right to the social protection stipulated in the legislation.”

In this regard, he mentioned that “the issue of determining wages, occupational classification, compensation and working conditions is subject to collective agreements that are determined by negotiation between the employing body and the worker’s representative body.”

The Minister of Communication reaffirmed the sector’s efforts to upgrade institutional communication, as “a link between journalists and the administration in order to enable the journalist to access information in a way that guarantees the citizen’s right to obtain confirmed and reliable information.”

He added that the sector “continues to organize these training courses, which have so far reached 29,” revealing that a new course is being programmed in Ghardaïa in early May.