A laudatory opinion article published on the Washington Times, a newspaper with a long history of controversy, authored by a lobbyist paid for by the Algerian state, was presented by media close to the regime as a genuine article of support to the army-backed president.
The author and the Washington Times
In November 2018, the Algerian embassy in the U.S signed a lobbying contract with David Keene for a period of one year for , paid for by the taxpayer.
Not to be confused with the Washington Post, a newspaper widely viewed as independent that obeys accepted journalistic standards. In contrast, the Washington Times is a relatively recent newspaper that was founded in 1982 by Sun Myung Moon, also the founder of the . The Unification Movement has been described in the past as a “dangerous cult“.
in a country where boxed milk has become a luxury.Going through the controversies section of the newspaper’s Wikipedia page, one can easily see why this media enjoys one of the lowest circulations in the U.S. From denying that second-hand smoke is harmful to denying that climate change exists, the Washington Times’ list of unsubstantiated claims is indeed very long. Just recently, the media published a story about Covid-19 being a bio-weapon, a story subsequently debunked by the .
In his autobiography ‘Long Walk to Freedom’, Nelson Mandela wrote of the newspaper’s journalists who had visited him in jail: “They seemed less intent on finding out my views than on proving that I was a Communist and a terrorist. All of their questions were slanted in that direction, and when I reiterated that I was neither a Communist nor a terrorist, they attempted to show that I was not a Christian either by asserting that the Reverend Martin Luther King never resorted to violence“.
Media present the article as a genuine piece of journalism.
. The article which was live yesterday has since been locked.
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The content of the article
In the article titled ““, David Keene paints a very rosy picture of the situation in the country, almost standing in ovation for the army-backed Abdelmadjid Tebboune whilst not providing much evidence to prove the assertions made. If one was to read the article without having experienced the country, one could easily think that Algeria is economically and socially on par with Switzerland or Japan.
The first inaccuracy in David Keene’s article starts with “Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected with 54% of the vote in what observers agreed was a free and fair election that included at least one of the government’s most vocal critics.”
The statement couldn’t be further from the truth. The election was actually rejected by the majority of the Algerian people with a voter turnout of 8% (conservative estimate). During the campaign, the candidates were not able to campaign, they were chased off as soon as they would set foot in the streets. Millions marched on election day to prevent the election from happening as they had been doing for months twice per week. The police and the gendarmerie had to protect the polling stations where almost no one was seen entering. As a matter of fact, the few voters seen voting were state employees and reserve soldiers forced to vote or face disciplinary measures. Polling stations were reportedly brick-walled in some regions of the country to prevent voters from entering and in the Berber region, the voter turnout was an official 0%. Abroad, the few Algerians who dared show up were lynched and accused of being “traitors” or “dogs” on the regime’s payroll. Additionally, the 54% put forward by the article’s author does not even correspond to the figure of 58% announced by the regime itself.
As for the “free and fair election” part, there were no international observers, and no credible local observers. The election happened behind closed doors. The assertion is simply inaccurate.
On the economic chapter, David Keene addresses the country’s oil prices linked future challenges somewhat correctly but fails to mention that Tebboune himself served under Abdelaziz Bouteflika and used to swear by Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s project. David Keene doesn’t address the corruption that has put the country in a poor economic posture in the first place, nor does he address the estimated 1,000 billion dollars that were dilapidated over the course of Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s reign and the complete lack of transparency (or auditing) in the management of public funds.
Finally, David Keene insinuates that the Algerian judiciary is about to become independent. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, over 70 Algerians were detained for publishing Facebook posts that criticize the president or the military junta that appointed him in December.