Intellectuals, doctors, teachers and foreigners have all been targeted as well. But members of the media are disproportionately represented on the militants' death lists. This year, seven journalists have been murdered. CPJ has named the leader of the GIA, Abu Abdul Rahman Amin, the world's top enemy of the press. Members of the media have become pawns in the warring parties' deadly game.
Fundamentalist rebels use the assassination of journalists as a way to get into the news.
The government has provided inadequate protection for journalists and levied restrictions that have further imperiled them and made objective reporting all but impossible. Islamists have been suspicious of Algerian journalists, particularly those working for state news outlets or independent papers with an anti-fundamentalist line. These journalists are seen by opponents of the regime as puppets of the security forces. The government has reinforced this perception by monopolizing the distribution of information. As a result, independent and opposition papers are caught between a rock and a hard place.