Maghreb press: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania

The Maghreb gets its news from dailies such as El Watan, El Khabar, Echorouk and Le Matin, heavily visited sites like Hespress and Business News, and the APS, MAP, TAP and AMI agencies, in Arabic, French and increasingly in Tamazight.

From L'Écho d'Alger to the independent press

Under colonial rule, the French-language press of Algiers, Tunis and Casablanca mainly served the settlers. After independence, state titles such as El Moudjahid dominated, until Algeria's 1990 opening saw the birth of El Watan and El Khabar.

The dailies that set the tone

In Algeria, El Khabar and Echorouk publish in Arabic, El Watan and Le Quotidien d'Oran in French. In Morocco, Le Matin stays close to official positions, while Al Massae and Hespress reach a large Arabic-speaking audience.

Arabic, French and Tamazight

Tamazight has been an official language in Morocco since the 2011 Constitution and in Algeria since 2016. Classical Arabic dominates the written press, Darija and Hassaniya are heard on radio, and French remains very present in business.

Oran, Fez or Sfax: the regional press

Le Quotidien d'Oran was born in western Algeria, and many sites cover Constantine, Tangier, Agadir or Sfax. The guide to the Algerian press presents titles from the east and west of the country beyond the Algiers papers.

Digital-native sites and mobile apps

Hespress, launched in Morocco in 2007, ranks among the country's most visited sites, alongside Le360 and Médias24. In Tunisia, Business News and Nawaat, a citizen outlet active well before 2011, grew their audiences after the revolution.

APS, MAP, TAP, LANA and AMI

Algérie Presse Service, Maghreb Arabe Presse, Tunis Afrique Presse, the Libyan agency LANA and the Mauritanian News Agency publish dispatches in Arabic and French. MAP also offers versions in English, Spanish and Tamazight.

What is on the public channels?

Algerian television, SNRT and 2M in Morocco, Tunisia's Wataniya and Mauritania's TVM all stream live online. Algerian radio's Chaîne 3, broadcasting in French, remains a reference for economic and cultural news.

The Maghreb diaspora in France and Canada

Millions of people of Maghreb origin live in France, Belgium, Spain and Quebec. They follow their home country on national sites, but also through outlets such as TSA or Maghreb Émergent, and on Al Jazeera and France 24 in Arabic.

Business and football coverage

L'Économiste and Médias24 in Morocco, Kapitalis in Tunisia and Maghreb Émergent in Algeria follow energy, banking and investment. Football is a passion, with Le Buteur and Compétition in Algeria and Al Mountakhab in Morocco.

Freedom to report: a mixed picture

Tunisia saw a broad media opening after 2011, Algeria a pluralism born in 1990, and Morocco has an active private press. Prosecutions of journalists and closures of titles have nevertheless been reported in several countries of the region.

Reading in French and checking sources

French remains a convenient way in: the Moroccan press and the Tunisian press offer many French-language titles. It pays to compare a private daily, the national agency and an international outlet before passing a story on.

Libya and Mauritania, two distinct landscapes

In Libya, the country's division has split the media between Tripoli and the east, with several channels broadcasting from abroad. In Mauritania, Sahara Medias, Le Calame and AMI lead, and the Mauritanian press publishes in Arabic and French.

Following Maghreb news from abroad

1. Pick one French-language daily and one Arabic-language title per country, for example El Watan and El Khabar for Algeria.
2. Add the national agency feed, APS, MAP or TAP, for government announcements and appointments.
3. Stream Algeria's Chaîne 3 or Tunisia's Mosaïque FM for the day's news.
4. Install the Hespress or Business News app and limit notifications to priority topics.
5. Compare how a state outlet and a private site cover the same event before drawing conclusions.
6. Check the date of any shared article, especially during Ramadan, when Morocco's legal time changes.

Access and subscriptions in the Maghreb press

Useful facts for reading the Maghreb press

• Languages: Arabic, French, Tamazight, Darija, Hassaniya
• Agencies: APS, MAP, TAP, LANA, AMI
• Public broadcasters: Algerian Television, SNRT, Wataniya, TVM
• Key dailies: El Watan, El Khabar, Le Matin, La Presse de Tunisie
• Time zones: UTC+1 in Algeria, Tunisia and usually Morocco, UTC+0 in Mauritania, UTC+2 in Libya
• Currencies: Algerian dinar, Moroccan dirham, Tunisian dinar, Libyan dinar, ouguiya

Reading traps in Maghreb news

• Trusting a Facebook page imitating Echorouk or Hespress, when the official accounts are verified and link back to the paper's website.
• Taking an official agency dispatch for an independent account, when it reflects the position of the government concerned.
• Sharing an old video of a protest in Algiers or Tunis presented as recent on social media.
• Mistranslating an Arabic article with an automatic tool, which often garbles proper names and official titles.
• Reading a story on Western Sahara without considering the outlet's standpoint, whether Moroccan, Algerian or international.

Questions about Maghreb newspapers