SECTOR 2 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country minimally meets aspects of the indicator. 3 Country meets many aspects of indicator but progress may be too recent to judge. 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator. 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator and has been doing so over time. Average score: 1.2 2.6 Government promotes a diverse media landscape with economically sustainable and independent media outlets. In the wake of the deep-rooted political, economic and social reforms of the late 80s, the Algerian government took, in the early 90s, incentive measures to promote a new media landscape and accompany the growth of the private media. Promoters hence benefitted from very favourable financial and economic conditions, as well as from numerous government housing facilities. The panel, however, notes that preferential treatments are dwindling each year. For instance, the rental fees of the Press House, until then very symbolic, were increased during the week when the barometer was being discussed (end of June 2009). Prior to this, private publications judged to have reached financial selfsufficiency were brutally cut off from receiving public aid. Direct government aid to the media (890 million Algerian Dinars, i.e. almost 13 million US dollars) has been stopped since 2003. Authorities explain that this pay packet was used to subsidize newsprint paper and housing for journalists. Oftentimes, the government uses tax threats to increase the pressure on certain newspapers. In this regard, El Khabar suffered a fiscal adjustment of 15 billion centimes (about 200,000 US Dollars). 34 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ALGERIA 2009