Fodil Mezali

Mezali was born in 1959 in the town of Thénia in the lower Kabylia region of Algeria, east of the Khachna Massif and south-east of the town of Boumerdès.[2]

After primary and intermediate studies in Thénia, Mezali continued his secondary education at a high school in Algiers, where he obtained his baccalaureate in 1979, and then pursued studies in journalism at the University of Algiers.[3]

Mezali began his professional career as a journalist in the Alger républicain newspaper in July 1989.[4]

Among his colleagues were Saïd Mekbel and Mohamed Benchicou. The newspaper ceased publication in December 1994.[5]

Mezali founded the newspaper Le Matin in 1991 as the editor-in-chief with Saïd Mekbal and Mohamed Benchicou, while remaining a contributor of columns to the Algiers Republican.[6][7]

Mezali left this daily when he was suspended on 26 July 2004 for non-payment of debts, and after its director, Mohamed Benchicou was imprisoned on 14 June 2004 for having written a pamphlet book on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika which he titled "Bouteflika, an Algerian Sham" (French: Bouteflika, une imposture algérienne).[8][9]

After the bankruptcy and closure of the newspaper Le Matin, Mezali contributed articles to several Algerian press titles from 2005 until 2012, such as Le Quotidien d'Algérie.[10][11]

Mezali waited seven years after the newspaper Le Matin's dissolution before returning to the Algerian journalistic scene by publishing, as a managing editor, a daily newspaper entitled La Cité,[12] which published its first issue on 21 April 2013. It chose as its maxim on the editorial line, "The newspaper of a camp and not of a clan" (French: Le journal d'un camp et non-d'un clan).[13]

Mezali launched another publication with an experimental edition of the Kabyle-language newspaper Tighremt on 22 February 2020.[14][15]

Having directed the French-language daily La Cité since 2012, he wanted to launch his Berber-speaking corollary Tighremt, whose first number was published on 29 February 2020.[16]

Mezali handpicked for proven language skills in Tighremt's editorial team, made up primarily of Tamazight teachers. He commissioned a pair of seasoned specialists in the field, Djamel Ikhloufi and Yacine Zidane, to lead this press title.[17] This Berber-speaking title comes from a bi-weekly and then weekly notebook inserted in the daily La Cité since 2015 for 550 issues.[18]

• List of Algerians
• List of Algerian writers
• List of newspapers in Algeria
• Alger républicain

• Jeune Afrique l'intelligent, Numéros 1942 à 1954. Paris: Groupe Jeune Afrique. 1998. p. 92.

• Jeune Afrique. Paris: Société africaine de presse. 1998. p. 92.

• M'Hamed Rebah (2002). La presse algérienne: journal d'un défi. Algiers: Éditions Chihab. p. 175;228. ISBN 978-9961634622.

• Tighremt newspaper on Facebook
• Report: Tighremt, the Amazigh expression newspaper (2020) on YouTube
• Le Matin newspaper website