SECTOR 1 1.7 Confidential sources of information protected by law and/or the courts. are To this question, one of the panel members jokingly replied: “You think you are in Sweden or what? You are in an under-developed country!” On a more serious note, panel members believe that confidentiality of sources of information is a core issue as regards freedom of expression and in particular freedom of the media in Algeria. The Information Act actually grants journalists the privilege of having confidential sources of information as both, a right and a duty. But it immediately specifies the exceptions to this confidentiality rule. The rule of confidentiality cannot effectively be applied in certain cases in a court of law, particularly in cases relating to national defence, strategic economic secrets and national security offences, and also when the information concerns children and adolescents or touches on the confidentiality of judicial investigations and inquiries (article 37). In 1993, the entire management of the El Watan French language newspaper was held under arrest for about ten days for having refused to reveal to the investigating magistrate the source of information concerning an attack. Panel members observed that Act 90-07 has literally become obsolete and is hardly applied. 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 1.8 Public information is easily guaranteed by law, to all citizens. accessible, The principle regarding the right to access official documents is expressly stipulated by law. Article 35 of Act 90-07 dated 3 April 1990 stipulates that “the right to access information sources is granted to professional journalists”. More precisely, 20 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ALGERIA 2009