Journalists are giving up media for politics and books take the fall. Libraries and the domino effect. When examining the coverage of e elections, one of the measures is the amount of air time can debts get. When approximately butiflica decided to run for a fourth term, there wasnt a declaration of his candidacy. He has hardly been heard or seen in public since. He is widely expected to win because for many, he saved the country from a brutal civil war in the 1990s, which left Something Like 200,000 people dead. So algerians are understandably wary of instability. There have been stories of crackdowns on Media Outlets of the last month, one channel, atlas t. V. Was shut down after it covered some protests and gave a platform to certain government critics. Many bypass their media from coverage from french channels, not too many on the ground reports since the government has been refusing visas for some journalists. Outsiders defaulting to the arab spring narrative to tell this story would be wrong. This is not egypt, tunisia or libya. Over the past decade, the algerian media have mushroomed. Journalists mr. Drafting their copy ahead of the official results because to many, president budaflika gateway a foregone conclusion. Our starting point this week gateway alg a algers during this campaign, president budaflika was the all but invisible man, scene just twice including this april 3rd meeting with the u. S. Secretary of state. He was clinging onto a chair for the photo op. There were rallies, only the 77yearold had sur 0 gas speaking for him, delivering lines he he cannot. A stroke he suffered last year has reportedly left his speech slurred. He was seen again on voting day. They wheeled him in. The rest of his media appearances during campaign were more like apparitions, speeches from better days. The president had access to two t. V. Channels which have been broading his past speeches showing him in good health. I personally think this is a manipulation. He may be severely ill am i think he is using the media to fool people. I do not think there is a taboo around the health of the president. It was not an issue. What was more difficult gateway actually have access to the adequate information about his state of health. We do not still know what gateway actually going on with his health. So this gateway problematic. Moreover, there was only the Public Television who was allowed to actually shoot the president budaflika while he was receiving john kerry. There is no doubt there is control of what goes out there. It is statecontrolled. But its a very sensitive subject. There is definitely in the private press some form of selfsensorship on the issue and the state owned press. They will not talk about the subject or will be careful to address it along official lines there are more Media Outlets than when he first came to power almost 15 years ago. New media platforms have been used extensively during this campaign. However, those changes have not added up to real freedom of expression as atlas t. V. Learned march 12th, when it was taken off of the air after the broadcasting a debate that the authorities and those who sympathize with the government said went too far. What happened to atlas t. V. Was perfectly fair. It broke the rules. It cross the line. It was unprofessional and not proper jishlism. It happens in all currents treepz. One must follow the rules. Coun one must follow the rules. Others crit sews those in power but they respect the rules the main reason was because we opened the forum for free expression. The channel was closed because it annoyed the government. We are going through a difficult time. They are presenting a weak candidate. We had critical voices who even demanded he withdraw from the race. Translator these authorities dont like criticism. Thats why the channel was shut down. The budaflika government has closed off most coverage from the outside. Among the International News organizations that have had visa applications denied or delayed forcing them to miss almost the entire campaign, arizona al jazeera, zed dief and del mun to do and from their former colonial power, france. Tran. This french news satire show, which like many french programs, can be watches in algeria gateway air from paris it dissected budaflikas second appearance of the campaign comparing the raw footage in which the president barely moved with what algerian state owned t. V. Which was edit to make him look ants the western media, especially the french one, is not objective. They say that the people are dissatisfied with the president. Thats incorrect. They are making trouble by reporting that there are rights. The bbc, al jazeera and cnn send en masse protests. I guarantee people will vote for the president. French media have been appear source for the private press doesnt mean algerians stop looking at french media. Far from it. I think your typical Algerian Television watcher, newspaper reader likes to get his news from a different set of sources. One of these press. What you read in the french media among others is that he is a sick candidate, running for a fourth consecutive mandate, that he is not respecting a lot earnants in power and that the election gateway won for him. And its not going to a free election and journalists would cover social and economic side of stories because its the topics that people are actually interested in mostly in algeria. Journalist covering th algerian story need to start not from the arab spring but in the 80s, conditions in algeria are different to countries where they emerged. The landscape gateway more pluralistic and journalists are notability operate in an open climate, there is room for criticism. There is room for exchanging ideas. The other way the foreign journalists could better understand the country treat would be the government letting more of them in. As for those who did get visas, if they were looking for another chapter in the story of the arab spring, they failed to find it on the streets of algers. Our Global Village voice now on the coverage of the president ial election in algeria. Two days before the beginning of the president ial campaign, the t. V. Channel openly against the government has been shut down. This is a specific case. On the internet, we have more freedom of speech and i havent found any difficulty of public publishing a particular article or story. I think its a global trend that journists have more freedom of speech on the internet. If we will compare with other kuntz trees in the region, the algerian press finds itself in a better position. However, many red lines have been drawn to limit the work of the press. Journalists who are really under pressure and receive threats because they dare to say around this electoral results of analyses were skewed in favor of the prosecution the fbi cant force the states to look at those cases the truth will set you free yeah. Dont kid yourself the system has failed me weekday mornings on Al Jazeera America we do have breaking news this morning. Start your day with in depth coverage from around the world. First hand reporting from across the country and real news keeping you up to date. The big stories of the day, from around the world. These people need help, this is were the worst of the attack took place. And throughout the morning, get a global perspective on the news. The life of doha. This is the International News hour. An informed look on the nights events, a smarter start to your day. Mornings on Al Jazeera America time for listening post, the guardian, tthe Washington Post which led the coverage of the Edward Snowden have had their work recognized with one of the most prestigious prizes. They shared the Pulitzer Prize for the reporting of the mass certainveillance carried out by the National Security agency as revealed by snowden, a former contractor. The first story was published in the guardian. The articles that followed revealed the extent of the nsas Global Collection of data from citizens and world leaders, the Pulitzer Committee praised the guardian to spark a debate about a debase of the relationship between the government and the public. It commended the post for helping the public understand how the disclosures fit in to the larger framework of National Security. Sponding to the news, snowden who is still in moscow said that his actions would have been meaningless were it not for the brave reporters and colleagues who kept working in the face of extraordinary intimdation and the inappropriate use of terrorism laws. Here is another casualty of the geo political crimea. Russians will no longer hear the voice of america on their air waves. Russias immediamedia oversight rerefused to renew the license at the end of march. The voice of russia said the kremlin could no longer put up with voas security subversive, selfserving propaganda. It is funded by the u. S. Congress and first started to broadcast into the soviet union during the stalin era. Thousands of demonstrators hit the streets of moscow april 13th to protest what they call a crackdown on independent media designed to stifle debate over ukraine and crimea. In rebateweeks, timchenko, the editor of lenta ru was relieved from her post. Followed the dropping of a critical antikremlin network by its cable carriers three months ago. Three journalists working for the Lebanese Television channel have become the latest media workers killed while covering the war in syria. Henza hassan and cameraman and technician died during the government operation to seize the town north of damascus. It is owned by hezbollah condemned the attack and called the perpetrators terrorists. The lebanese president wrote on his twitter account that assassinating journalists gateway a cowardly act. There have now been more than 70 media workers killed in syria since the start of the fighting there. Venzuela, ab country going through a newsprint shortage has been gifted tongs of it by colombia. The package was sentence by the association of columbian newspapers nation nationale newspaper. Its one of many venzan newspapers threatened because of the paper shortage which began after the maduro government changed the rules making it harder to import newsprint. Seven papers have reportedly ceased publication in the past 12 months. Critics of the government say its using this tactic to turn the screws on its opponents in print. But julio chavez, the head of the commission denies that. Earlier this year, he told the stateown broadcaster that they were horning their stocks aimed at destabilizing the government. Sinine called the donation from colombia a gesture of solidarity and a messages to the government 6 president maduro so it changes its behavior towards newspapers. A little more than a year ago, a new Israeli Parliament was sworn in. Roughly 10 of the members of the kinness were members of the media. The leader of the countrys second most popular party, lapid and the leader of the labor party came out of the t. V. Studios of channel 2 having made their careers scrutinizing the nations politicians more and more than journalists are moving into mriningdz. Israels link to journalism, before the father of political zinism, hurtzel was in vienna. Many kinnesett members downhilled as fulltime writers. What is it abouts Israeli Society that more and more journalists are trading journalism for politics . The listening post on what this means for politics in israel and for the media there. Throughout israels relatively short history media and politics have been intertwined perhaps never more so than now. A bunch of polished mks who apply wellhoned communication skills they learned in journalism to politics they used to be generals in the kinnesset and then lawyers and now journalists. It has to do a lot about the change in Israeli Society. It wasnt about parties. Will i vote for him or him. The parties were out the changes that took place are in two ways one, in the political realm where parties became less important. Whats happened in the last 10 years is that this objective in the media has changed its nature and these journalists became very much opinionated like the americans, like fox and msnbc. They realized these are not neutral professionals. As politicians in different in different costume. An example of personality and politics, in 20s years, we saw the rise of the journalists or media person as a celeb. And once that happened popularity politics went up. So the two things merged in a way and gave rise to the possibility that a journalist or media person who is a celeb could go quickly and e financial into politics. Fficiently into politics. Look at this, back in 2005, he interviewed another journalist turned politician. He did exactly the same thing. Lapid gave up his anchor chair, formed his own party and ran for Prime Minister. These are the facts now, he is Prime Minister netanyahus chief coalition partner, the finance minister. What does crossing the line mean for journalists relationships with former colleagues . When i left my paper moo i friends saw me as a traitor. I divorced my first family. So you are asking me a question. You left your wife for someone else. Did you like it . Smut. Its the same all sides of the you are changed all of the sudden, it is felt by journalists who crossed to the other side many journalists spends skreerz analyzing and securing israels politicians, sometimes even skewing what they say. Clearly, they consider generalism an ideal Training Ground for politics. They think they know how politics works. Do they really . Does knowing the kinnesset inside . Absolutely not. I can tell you that because i was a journalist who became involved in politics. The relationship between journalists and politicians are close but if you talk in general terms, journalists know but doesnt mean they are good politicians. We live in a world where someone who knows nothing and didnt do anything in his life suddenly wants to be Prime Minister they are underprepared for. I think that at the end of the journali journalist, a talented writer who takes and leaves nothing to chance. At the end of the day, he has no clue about finance. I have written extensively for 25 years. I thought maybe, naively, that by moving to the action i would change the face much israel which turned out to be wrong. Its not as easy as i thought. It didnt work for daniel ben simon. Has done nothing to deterothers from invading the kin he isset. Exmilitary personnel must now stay out of politics for three years, an obligatoy cooling off period. While some mks tried to pass a similar bill for journalists, it was rejected. The line between politics and journalism gateway becoming increasingly blurred. As more and more people cross it, the state in israel gateway facing questions on its role as a power an interview in 2006, about two months later, he welcomed her into the labor party. So people said the interview was very soft and very complementing because she was already planning her moved in to politics. Now, there is distrust and basically, i think, its a positive thing. Obviously, when a journalist moves to politics, he hurts his own profession. They say you have a hidden agenda. It is a major problem. Unfortunately, most of my friends left journalism for politics in a matter of a few weeks, which gateway a profit at this timetution of the profession. Thats why they are the least trusted professions in israel that was confirmed in a study late last year by the institute for israeli democracy on public trust and state institutions at the bottom of the pile, journalists and politicians separated only by israels religious leaders isitionis do trust the media, the security forces, the supreme court. They get about 80, 90 , and the media, the kinnessette, the parties get about 20, 25, 30 . So these israelis dont trust the media. They dont trust politicians. Perhaps thats because todays journalists tend to become tomorrows politicians. Its a revolving door. Although most of the traffic in israel gateway heading in the same direction in search of power. More Global Village voices otisisi journalists who seem bent on a career in politics. I dont think that journalists arewell prepared to be politician. I think as journalists, they are required to sit on the fence and criticize whatever they see in front of them and not to take the real issue of the government, of what a political figure has to say. What they have gateway a brand. They are well known. Everyone knows their faces. Everyone thinks something of them, and i think that this gateway whats happened in israel when we had some kind of leadership. The notion of the fourth estate, i think its an invention. I think most of the media people are connected to politicians and not playing their role as the objectivity. Its subjective. Hence, i dont think that they are betraying their role. I think it wasnt their role to begin with. On the next talk to Al Jazeera Oscar winner sean penn shares his views on privacy rights, press freedom and his controversial relationship with hugo chavez talk to al jazeera only on Al Jazeera America ve take a new look at news. Finally, the late argentina poet said i had imagined library. He worked as a librarian. This is National Library week in the u. S. And the seattle public library, doing the raising of awareness thing set a new record for the longest book domino chain, 2,131 books were lined up and knocked down. About 170 Million Words went atumbling and the video has attracted 700,000 views. The message being your library card. Dont leave home without it. We will see you next time at the listening audiences are intelligent and they know that their needs are not being met by american tv news today. Entire media culture is driven by something thats very very fast. There has been a lack of fact based, in depth, serious journalism, and we fill that void. There is a huge opportunity for Al Jazeera America to change the way people look at news. We just dont parachute in on a story. Quickly talk to a couple of experts and leave. One producer may spend 3 or 4 months, digging into a single story. At al jazeera, there are resources to alow us as journalists to go in depth and produce the kind of films. The people that you dont see anywhere else on television. We intend to reach out to the people who arent being heard. We wanna see the people who are actually effected by the news of the day. Its Digging Deeper its asking that second, that third question, finding that person no one spoken to yet. You cant tell the stories of the people if you dont get their voices out there, and Al Jazeera America is doing just that. Four more people from the ferry disaster are arrested as the south korean president condemns the actions of the crew. Translation the conduct of the captain and some crew members is unfathomable. It was like an act of murder that cannot and will not be tolerated. You are watching al jazeera live from the Global News Center in doha. Also on the programme. Aleppo burning. More barrel bombs dropped over the beseemed