Government supports media funding

Journalists in Algeria have been given a boost after the government issued two executive decrees in relation to the development of the national press. Under the two rulings, there will be funding to support the print and electronic press, including focus on the social coverage of journalists and unregistered editors. A statement from the Ministry of Communications said that the first decree "determines the measures and criteria of granting subsidies from the fund, that has been frozen since 2005, and which has been allocated with 390 million dinars. An ad hoc committee appointed by the Minister of Communications will be in charge of the selection according to a burden book that will determine the rights and obligations of the parties benefiting from this fund." The second decree determines the subscription rate, and the criteria of social security, taking into consideration that subscriptions vary among those  covered and not covered by insurance. The statement added that "the proportion of subscriptions for journalists and press workers who are not under insurance is determined according to the basic wage by 13.25 percent. It is distributed as 12 percent at the expense of the employer and 1.25 percent at the expense of the journalist." For people hired to work in a journalistic field and academics who benefit from social insurance due to their primary activity, the subscription rate will be 2.75 percent, all at the expense of the beneficiary.